


Tangle

by terma_archivist



Category: Harsh Realm, The X-Files
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-01-01
Updated: 2002-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:48:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26535346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terma_archivist/pseuds/terma_archivist
Summary: Krycek from the X-files does a guest performance in Harsh Realm. Inga Fossa and Alex Krycek seduce a couple of icons of decency just to prove they can. (CJ does 'Dangerous Liaisons')
Relationships: Inga Fossa/Sophie Green, Tom Hobbes/Alex Krycek
Collections: TER/MA





	Tangle

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alicettlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [TER/MA](https://fanlore.org/wiki/TER/MA) and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2019. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [the TER/MA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/terma/profile).  
> Just for fun, Alex's resistance cell is peopled with folks based on the net-personas of some HRfic friends. I'm doing it 'cause I like you, children. No offence intended. Extra kisses to Mayhem, since I couldn't use that particular net-persona here because of the physical resemblance involved.

Go to notes and disclaimers 

  
**Tangle  
by Carla Jane**

  
  
"Please. Don't you have any word from Tom?" 

Inga's usually impassive expression skirted the edge of a full out frown. Sophie Green was becoming a nuisance. It seemed as if the other woman's timing grew more inconvenient every single time one of these encounters occurred. 

Keeping her tone even so it didn't betray her irritation, Inga began, "I told you I would contact you when I had more information." Cold eyes scanned the darkened area. Inga hoped that the person she was supposed to be meeting here at the monument ran true to form and showed up late. "We have to be very careful. Tom would be in even more danger if they were to discover this connection we have made," Inga cautioned the woman. 

"I just miss him so much." A hand dropped down and Sophie's fingers spread protectively over her stomach. The curve of her pregnancy was quite visible now, even in the low light of the evening. "Haven't you heard anything?" Her pretty face had a glow to it that couldn't be credited to the watery moonlight. 

Inga forced a smile onto her dark red lips and reached out to touch the other woman's shoulder. It was odd to feel warmth under her fingertips. She seldom touched anyone on purpose in the real world these days. "You have to be patient. The work Tom is doing is important." Inga attempted to turn Sophie in place. "I need you to continue your efforts from your end. There are legal ways to force this situation into the light." They managed a few steps. "I can't help either of you if it comes out that you and I are in contact. I would lose my access." Inga couldn't help but stare at the dampness forming in the corners of the blonde's eyes. It had been so long since she had allowed herself the simple outlet of tears. In a tiny corner of her carefully shuttered soul she envied the other woman that release. "You and I need to arrange a more discreet way to meet, Sophie. I do want to help you. Trust me. I just have to be careful. You mustn't follow me like this." 

"I'm sorry." Sophie's pretty face fell forward to hide within a cloak of gold hair. "It's just so hard, like slamming into a brick wall every way I turn." Her voice trembled. "Can't you give me something more? Can't you suggest something I haven't tried yet?" 

Inga's head tilted slightly, considering what exactly she wanted to do with this particular tool today. Unfortunately she hadn't planned on this meeting. "There's a possibility, but you have to give me time to set it up. You mustn't contact me. I will find you." Perhaps now would be a good time to set Sophie onto the trail of the medical staff. "Go home..." she insisted. "I'll get back to you." Her hand squeezed the other woman's shoulder in a display of unfelt sympathy for several reasons. It did seem to settle the blonde, but there was also a certain tactile pleasure in it. "I'll send Tom your love, I promise, but you've got to leave right now." Inga didn't have to look at her watch to realise how dangerous it was to let Sophie linger here. "Go now." 

The blonde's forehead crumpled up as if the tears she held in were about to escape, but a deep breath forestalled the outburst. "All right. I'm sorry. Just, please, call me soon." Sophie drew away, hugged herself briefly, and with a sad smile, she turned away. Her pick-up was parked fairly close. 

The tail-lights of Sophie's truck hadn't even dulled down, when a throaty chuckle of amusement sounded behind Inga's back. She knew better than to turn about in a panic, however. Showing weakness around her contact was a sure way to invite attack. The man was a feral creature in so many ways. 

Inga paused long enough to make sure her game face was firmly in place before she eased herself around. "Krycek." A slight inclination of her head acknowledged him. 

"Fossa." He stayed within the shadow of the monument they were meeting at, not so much hiding as attempting to put her off. "You seem to have acquired a new pet." 

Inga glanced in the direction the blonde had taken. "She's of no consequence." 

"Sophie Green." Alex Krycek flaunted his knowledge. "The fiancée of one of your Harsh Realm pawns, Lieutenant Thomas Hobbes. The woman is currently making quite a nuisance of herself in military circles." He shifted slightly, making his outline visible. Alex leaned, sounding bored. "You don't hold her on a tight enough leash, Fossa. I recently had to intercept her case when she petitioned the FBI to look into the matter. We do not want Agents Mulder and Scully turning their attention on Harsh Realm. I need them concentrating elsewhere." 

"You aren't one to be tossing accusations about control, Krycek, not if you're going to mention those two." Inga began to walk, forcing the man to follow her out into the moonlit night if he wanted to continue the conversation. "Sophie and Hobbes are both honourable and quite predictable. I'm well aware of how each of them will react in any given situation. That is more than you can say about most of your pawns." 

Alex Krycek fell into step beside Inga. A scowl marked his slightly elfin features. "I could handle either of them better than you have, Fossa, especially that sulky blonde with the nice, ripe cock-sucker lips." 

Inga didn't flinch at his choice of words. Everything was about power and testing strength when dealing with the triple agent. "You're too heavy handed, Krycek. That's why they have you skulking around infecting Assistant Directors and assassinating scientists. Sophie is my business. Stay away from her." 

"I can do covert." Alex halted, protesting in his most gravelly whisper. "I infiltrated the fucking FBI and gained 'Spooky' Mulder's trust," he reminded her. 

"For a mere month," Inga countered. "And really Krycek, a monster cockroach in a rubber mask could get the rather gullible Agent Mulder to eat out its hands if it held out the correct bait," she mocked. "Try dealing with the likes of Santiago." Inga overstated her doubts intentionally. She was well aware of Alex Krycek's value as a mole. What wouldn't she give to have a tool like him in her arsenal, available for use at need? "I haven't got all night, Krycek." Her arms crossed. "Did you get those files I wanted?" 

"I'd like to go inside the game." Krycek's mouth was a thin line. "I've the ID to pull it off if you interceded. I want to see what the fuss is about." 

Inga's eyes narrowed. Wasn't it just like Krycek? If there was something going on he simply had to have details, even if it had nothing to do with his sphere of influence. "Harsh Realm is not some vacation resort, Krycek." Her mind began to process all the chores she could use him for inside the game. "You would have to have a mission to get inside." 

"So give me a mission. We'll trade off. You give me a task. I'll give you one. That's what we do, Fossa," he bargained. 

Inga blinked once, deciding. She didn't want Krycek interfering too deeply with her work. "I'd rather do a bet." A smile pulled at her lips. "I'll assign you a task and if you fail..." One eyebrow lifted, suggesting he offer up a forfeit. 

"I can do anything." 

The smile blossomed. Inga knew his arrogance would allow him to accept the most outrageous demand without flinching. "If you fail I own you for the next year. You become nothing more than an extension of my will." 

Alex actually drew back in surprise, looking at her intensely. "It would be only fair if this bet went both way, Fossa. I want to set you a feat as well. If you can't pull it off I'll own you." 

"Define own." Inga's eyes narrowed. Krycek wouldn't be content to use her as a soldier if he won. She was certain his demands would include some more personal concessions. 

He closed the distance between them. That smirk she hated so much but didn't dare comment on was pasted on his face. 

"Twenty four hours a day, every day for a year, you do whatever I want. The only exceptions will be ongoing projects we have to attend to that do not conflict with the winner's agenda." He lifted a hand to run one finger down her pale cheek. "And yes, I will expect you to wash my back and bend over for me on command, as well as help me with my work. You got a problem with that? I'll understand it you're too frightened of losing to make the bet." 

Inga didn't draw away from the intimacy. It wasn't as though she'd never lain down with Alex before, but that had been at her convenience, and for her own satisfaction. The man's tongue was amazing. "I want you to separate Tom Hobbes from Pinocchio, to break their alliance beyond repair. Hobbes is to continue to fight against Santiago. Neither Santiago or either of them is to be physically harmed by your interference, however." A pause separated the last stipulation. "...And you're not to touch Pinocchio... in any way." 

"Still got a soft spot for your ex, eh, Fossa?" 

"This isn't about Michael. It's about Hobbes. I need you to dampen his effectiveness without ruining his purpose." 

"You don't make things easy, tying my hands like this." Krycek took one step backwards. A crease formed between his brows. "What if it damages his desire to return to Sophie?" 

"That would be unacceptable." 

"And how do you propose I accomplish this task?" He questioned. 

"I leave that for you to decide." His hesitation was sweetly fulfilling. Inga felt like licking her lips. "If you can't do it..." 

"I can do anything." He repeated. "You get me into the Realm," Alex stipulated. "And make sure they program me with two arms but other than that, only what tampering I ask for." 

"You accept then?" 

"Yes." Krycek finally confirmed. "But will you?" he dared. "I want you to seduce the weepy blonde. I want you to make her fall so madly in love with you that Hobbes could bang on the front door, and she wouldn't give a God damn," Alex laughed. 

Inga couldn't stop the glare the demand provoked. Krycek knew that Inga floundered horribly whenever dealing with women in any other way than the most distant and cool fashion. Men she could wrap around her little finger within an hour of meeting them, but other women seemed to sense something inherently wrong with Inga whenever the conversation grew emotional. 

"Chicken, Fossa?" Alex laughed. "It's a damned sight easier job than you're giving me. I could do it in a week and a half." 

"It's childish. It's immature, and a waste of time. It serves no purpose. It has nothing to do with business." Her protests were icy. "You're simply being perverse." 

"It's what I want." His shoulders shrugged. "If you succeed and I fail, you own me for a year. If I manage to split Hobbes and your ex-husband while you can't manage a simple seduction, I'll own you," he listed. "If we both fail neither of us plays the slave, and no major business plans suffer because of the failure. If we both succeed, it amuses me, and your whim about having the boys parted is granted, but again, no slavery will result." Krycek tossed his head, smothering amusement. "You game, Fossa?" 

"Call me tomorrow, Krycek." Inga stepped away from his body. "I'll see about getting you inside the game. In the meantime you owe me a disc. Where is it?" 

* * *

It wouldn't do to approach the trio when they were united, Alex decided. He had read their files, but some of the information contained in there was obvious at a single glance. A person could tell just by looking at them that Hobbes' companions were a couple of hard customers. What did surprise Alex was Tom Hobbes himself. 

The man on the other side of the makeshift marketplace bore only a near resemblance to the picture Alex had seen in Hobbes' dossier. This Tom Hobbes was pared down to whipcord, like a half-starved greyhound. His eyes were smudged with fatigue and lacked any sparkle. He was shaggy, weary-looking and unshaven. His clothes hung off him and seemed uncomfortable, dragging at the man. Only the way that Hobbes handled the gun at his side gave away his military bearing. The strategy that Alex had tentatively prepared collapsed like a house of cards. The man across from him was going to demand far more straightforward tactics. 

Glancing down at himself, Alex decided his general appearance would still do the job. However some adjustments in his demeanour and background story would be required. 

Alex shook off the protective hunch his shoulders had fallen into, and he lifted his chin. Attempting to gain pity wouldn't do him any good at all. 

He waited until a certain amount of distance formed between the trio before he paced across the chewed up ground that separated him from his target. Alex came to a stop near enough to make his presence obvious without getting into the other man's space. 

Hobbes turned cautiously. Tired blue eyes sized up the newcomer. Pale brows lifted questioningly. "What?" 

"I heard you're looking for gas and rations," Alex stated blandly. 

Tom frowned. "We are," he admitted after a moment. "You selling, or brokering for someone else?" The man in front of Hobbes looked healthy enough but a little on the battered side. 

"It's my stuff." Alex responded. "If you're looking for gas then you must have transportation." 

"We're trading ammo." 

Alex's dark head shook. "I don't need ammo. I need a ride. I have to get down to Wilmington, before Santiago and the Republican guard arrive." 

"Ammo might buy you a ride with someone else," Hobbes bargained. "We don't need another mouth to feed kicking around. Neither do we want the company. We're busy. That trip would take us out of our way." His expression was guarded and a bit suspicious. "Besides, most people would consider it pretty stupid to drive into the path of the Republican guard." 

"I don't need any ammo." Alex turned and walked away, fairly confident that Hobbes would chase him down later, if not immediately. He slipped into the cover of a lean-to in order to observe his marks. 

Hobbes went to Pinocchio first. Their conversation was brief, with lots of head shaking on the older soldier's side of things. 

Alex had checked. The trio might find food elsewhere around the trading zone, but no one else had gasoline, Alex had made sure of that. It also made perfect sense that, despite what he had said, Hobbes and company would be thinking about heading in that direction themselves to cause trouble in front of the advancing army. 

Someone tapped him on the shoulder to catch his attention. 

"You're Alex?" A rather grizzled looking man ran a speculative stare up and down Alex, lingering at the hard worn knees of his jeans before looking at his face. "You're pretty enough, if a bit old." 

"Experience has its benefits." Alex submerged himself in the persona he had chosen for himself upon entering the Realm. This was going to be an annoying little sidetrack, but Alex needed to maintain the illusion. "You looking for a good time?" After all, he would have to explain the riches he'd accumulated to Hobbes somehow, and this story would do the trick without raising suspicions. The downside was he'd have to keep at the job at least until he hooked up with soldier-boy, maybe longer. 

"I've some cans." The customer swung around a backpack to show off tinned pasta. "You blow me and I'll give you..." The man seemed to consider. "...two cans. But only if you do a good job of it." 

Alex flicked his hand further away from the main street. "Lets take this somewhere a bit more private, boss." 

* * *

Inga turned the expensive pen in her fingers and blinked slowly at the General who was spouting off about statistics and the waste of manpower. 

"We can't keep throwing soldiers at the son of a bitch," the man complained to the others surrounding the table. "It's getting harder to keep a lid on this thing every month." 

"We've already put a halt to the supply of soldiers. Santiago has turned most of them anyway," Inga's primary ally informed his colleagues. "From now on only a few specialists will be allowed access. I feel we have a potential solution beginning to gel inside the game." 

"We've heard assurances like this before," another objected. 

Inga tuned the discussion down inside her mind, staying only aware enough that if certain keywords came up she would snap back. She'd heard this same topic bandied about more times than she cared to recall. It wasn't as if any of these men's decisions even mattered in the long run. There were only a very few people who had any real control over the project, and none of them were sitting in this room. 

Inga could smell power. It tickled across her senses like the finest perfume. No one here gave off that scent. Besides, she had plans to make. Tonight Inga would take a step toward securing the rather talented Alex Krycek as her own private soldier, and tomorrow she was expected inside the game for an appointment with Santiago. Both of those tasks were vastly more important than these dreary men. 

Sophie was going to meet Inga at an elegant hotel so they could exchange information and bits of tear-stained paper. Tom's letter was sketchy and too brief this time. Inga planned on taking full advantage of the blonde woman's resulting doubts and depression to begin her seduction. 

Inga was nervous. Pulling men into a dependent affection was one thing but Inga had only once before attempted to do the same with a woman, and she had failed miserably. The thing was that she HAD to succeed this time. Indebting herself to that devious creature, Krycek, was a completely impossible option. On the other hand owning the thieving assassin would be invaluable. 

She made a mental note to mention Alex to Santiago or his boot boy, Waters, tomorrow evening. Throwing a few extra obstacles in the path of Hobbes and Pinocchio would also be a good idea. The pair of them always grew the closest when encountering outside difficulties and argued the most during lulls in the conflict. 

Sending someone out into the field to 'out' Krycek as a fraud would be a good idea as well. Ideally that same someone would go to Tom bearing whatever overtly sentimental declaration of devotion Sophie brought to their meeting tonight. It would be a good idea to remind Hobbes where his affections were supposed to reside. Krycek was quite the master at seducing otherwise straight men, according to the information she had been able to procure. 

"...medical supplies." 

Inga dragged her attention back to the ongoing meeting. Apparently someone outside was attempting to track down the records of saline and nutritional supplements connected with the comatose soldiers. Inga had to consciously smother a smile of pride at how quickly Sophie had exploited that weakness in security. She added that topic to her mental list. She would have to see to plugging that particular leak both for the military and for her other employers. 

It was good to know that a reasonable intellect backed up Sophie's pretty face and stubborn personality. Perhaps this seduction that Krycek had foisted upon her wouldn't be half the disappointing waste of energy that Inga had feared it would be. 

* * *

It was just after dusk when Alex looked up to discover Hobbes, Pinocchio and their pet healer had caught up to him. Alex was outside the barn that he was using as a temporary base. The manual pump that supplied the barn's water trough functioned. Krycek didn't want to contemplate what the last few days would have felt like if he hadn't had the option of cleaning regularly. 

Pinocchio strode across the distance and planted himself right in Alex's face. "How'd you get the gas, whore?" 

Alex supposed they must have done a bit a research on him before staging this confrontation. No doubt a few of his more recent customers had been questioned considering Pinocchio's choice of insults. 

"I asked you a question." Pinocchio poked Alex in the chest. He had seized the point on the interrogation as if it were his right. 

Hobbes was hanging back, ready to play 'good cop' while the woman, Florence, drifted to one side. She seemed to be petting the dog in her arms, but her concentration was fastened on Krycek, judging him. 

"The soldiers left it with me as part of my pay-off." Alex looked past Pinocchio to where Tom was lingering. He kept his expression mildly resentful and hollowly arrogant. "They left me with gas, rations and what I'd had before they picked me up." He curled his lip. "All that and a fucking sore ass. You wanna hear about it, Butch? You're acting like the type that gets off on rough talk." A sneer flavoured his words. "Of course I'll have to charge you, depending on how much detail you need to jerk off by." 

Pinocchio puffed up and seemed about to roar out his denial when Hobbes pushed forward to take over. "You said Wilmington. Why do you want to go there and how much stuff have you got to trade for the ride?" Tom questioned in a more reasonable tone. 

Alex turned, trying to give Pinocchio his shoulder and concentrating on Hobbes. "I've some friends there that I need to hook up with before the Guard storms in and scatters them to the four winds," he said quietly. "My last ride dumped me here. They didn't want to be seen with a civilian in tow," Alex explained. "I'd grab a vehicle and go by myself, but I haven't come across any wheels. This area's been picked over." 

"It'll be cramped quarters." Tom warned. "We've a car, not a truck." 

Alex shrugged. "I'm guessing the 'diva' there does the driving. I'd just as soon stay in the back seat." He glanced at Florence. "There must be a back seat. I doubt one of you rides on the roof." Alex shifted to put himself even closer to Tom. "I suppose you want to see my stuff. I'll show you where I've hidden it. You can stash what you can't carry because of me and come back for it later," he offered. "I've a lot of gasoline. I bartered for some of it locally too." Krycek paused, making sure he had Hobbes' attention. "You can call me Alex. I prefer that to 'whore', if you don't mind." 

Tom was still honourable enough to blush slightly at the way his friend had addressed the other man. "I'm Hobbes." No first name was offered up, a wise precaution considering the price on his head. Of course, it would have been even smarter to take an alias, but that wouldn't fit the soldier's profile. 

"There's one other thing." Alex looked each of them over. "I'll understand if you want me to work on the way there. Hell, I won't mind at all taking care of you, Hobbes." His smirk was fleeting. "But I'd like to know in advance which of you, and how often I'm expected to pay the rent." 

"Jeez-us!" Pinocchio spat and turned away. "Like I'd lay hands on something that well used." He shared a vaguely vicious grin with Florence. "The whore's all yours, Hobbes," he laughed. 

"Knock it off," Tom grouched. "Show me your supplies, Alex. There better be enough to make this trip worth our while." 

The spy swallowed a comeback about how they were likely headed in that direction already. There was no reason his persona would know that. "I'll take you to it, but to be fair, the diva and his blanket warmer should go get your car so I've proof you're not just yanking me around." 

"If we could go and get it, we wouldn't need your freaking gas, A-hole." 

* * *

Inga considered carefully before she decided whether to arrive early or late to her meeting with Sophie. In the end she decided on her own personal comfort. She had chosen carefully, preferring to arrive before the appointment, to take off her restricting jacket, and settle on the loveseat on the far side of the bed with a drink. 

Inga had turned on only one light to keep the mood secretive. She was half way through her gin and tonic when the door lock clicked and Sophie let herself cautiously into the room. She leaned wearily against the inside of the door. Wide eyes surveyed the hotel room carefully, before the blonde crossed the carpet. 

"I could have sworn someone was following me." She spoke in a small, uncertain voice. "A grey car. But why would anyone?" Sophie stood as if waiting for instructions. 

"You likely were." Inga rose. She crossed to stand by the other woman. "Your latest line of inquiry has made some people quite nervous." 

"But it was a dead end." Her voice took on a whine. 

Inga had to consciously refrain from sneering at the show of weakness. "The end wasn't important, Sophie." The name was employed as a tool. "There was a secondary importance. What little you did uncover will shake other things loose." Inga reached up and set her hand gently on the other woman's shoulder. "You did a good job." Dark lips pulled into a slight smile. Anything broader would appear absurd. Long hours in front of a mirror had made Inga all too aware of the best way to present herself. 

In contrast, Sophie's smile was dazzling. She positively glowed even though the praise had been faint. Bright eyes widened even further in surprise. Sophie's breath caught and she looked down at herself. "I can feel the baby move," she announced, seeming delighted with the opportunity to share. "I'm scheduled for another ultrasound. The doctor says we should be able to tell the sex this time." 

Inga already knew. Inga now knew more about Sophie than anyone else on the face of the planet. Research was essential to any project's success. 

"May I?" Inga requested and then reached down to splay her free hand across the blonde's rounded stomach. The physical connection shifted from casual to intimate. 

A blush coloured Sophie's cheeks but she didn't pull away. 

Inga held the pose long enough for the rose to darken to red. "You look tired." Concern seemed to weight the statement. "You should slow down and rest." 

"There's just..." Sophie faltered. "I'm trying to help Tom. It takes so much time but I have to pay the bills, so I can't lose my job. There's just no time," she finally finished the first statement. The complaint ended as Sophie sank down onto the edge of the bed. "Can't you just tell me what you know? These games are too much. I can't take it." 

"I know it's hard." Inga sat down beside her target. "I lost someone to the same cover-up." Her eyes stayed down to the carpet, but she reached over to lay her cool hand on Sophie's warm fingers, re-establishing the contact that the other woman had broken off. 

"Who?" 

"A man." The response was vague enough. "One who was dear to me." 

"Corporal Pinocchio?" 

Inga's look of surprise at the jump of logic was genuine. Upon reflection it only made sense. Handing over Michael's dog tags to Sophie back at the beginning of their interaction had suggested that she and Michael shared a connection. 

"I envy you." Inga lifted her fingers to brush at a lock of that rich gold hair. "Your dedication is admirable. The love you and Tom share isn't something many people in the world get an opportunity to experience for even a brief time. It amazes me how dedicated you are to him even though..." Inga halted in mid-sentence with a look on her face that suggested she had made a mistake. 

"'Even though' what?" Sophie's brows drew together. 

The question drew a heavy sigh out of the dark woman. "Men in the field, away from home, sometimes do foolish things even if they still love the woman waiting for them." Inga's words were obscure. "I'm sure Tom loves you, but he's been lonely." 

A tremor ran through Sophie. "What are you trying to say? Are there women where Tom is?" 

Employing her most serious expression Inga met Sophie's eyes. "Not a woman. I'm certain that Tom would never cheat on you with another woman, but there's this man." 

It almost looked as if Sophie would laugh, but confusion overtook her. "A man? Are you saying that Tom is sleeping with a man? That's absurd." She squirmed, almost pulling away, but Inga's grip held. 

"He adores you, Sophie. I don't blame him for falling in love with you. You're exquisite. But everyone has needs. I'm sure this is Tom's way of attempting to stay faithful to you. It's not so awful to allow yourself the release of a purely physical relationship with a friend. Everyone has needs, and it's not like he's betraying your love." Inga dared a fleeting stroke of her fingers down the other woman's cheek. It wasn't likely Sophie would allow things to go very far tonight but Inga wanted to discover the limit. "There are some things a man can only get from another man." She paused. "And some things women can best do for each other." 

Sophie looked perplexed, but she wasn't shying away yet. Inga took a chance and leaned in to steal a fleeting kiss. 

The blonde flinched back. Her palely painted mouth made a little 'o' of surprise. One hand lifted and touched as if to confirm the kiss had actually occurred. Sophie's tongue flicked out nervously to wet her lips. 

"I'm sorry." Inga retreated slightly. Her apology sounded hollow. "But it's just that you're so..." The sentence hung unfinished. "I should go." Inga feigned embarrassment as she went after her things. A file was grabbed off a side table in enough of a fluster that it spilled open all over the floor. Inga crouched down and gathered it haphazardly, making certain that the one paper she wanted Sophie to have was forgotten in a shadow. "I'll contact you." Inga seized her jacket and fled without putting it on. 

Quiet protests were already beginning to emerge from Sophie's throat. 

Outside the room Inga stopped to make herself tidy once more. She patted the file she held into order then calmly walked to the elevator. 

* * *

"What are you writing?" 

The rumble of the Chevelle and the road it travelled along made communication between the front and back seats of Pinocchio's car nearly impossible. The situation seemed to be fine with everyone. Pinocchio didn't want to talk, and Florence couldn't. The dog was curled up asleep down at the healer's feet. Hobbes was, by turns, staring out the window and not writing in the book on his lap, despite the fact that his pen had been poised for almost an hour. 

Alex shifted as if to look at his back seat companion's notes. "Is it a journal?" 

"No." Tom tipped the notebook to hide the fact that the page was almost blank. "It's a letter to my girl." 

Alex nodded. "Postal delivery is a bit sketchy these days, but I can understand the urge." His smile was fleeting. "What's she like? Pretty?" 

"Beautiful." Hobbes whispered, with a nervous look at the back of Pinocchio's head. "Like the sunrise after a night-long storm." His eyes closed briefly, and a puzzled frown briefly crumpled up his clear features. "Long blonde hair. An angel's face." The description was almost hesitant. "Eyes so clear, like a mountain lake." Hobbes was staring down at his book now. His brow completely wrinkled up. 

"You've been apart a long time?" Alex recognised the signs of someone reaching for a memory and finding it hard to capture. Harsh Realm time was taking its toll on the Lieutenant's mental picture of his fiancée. Inga was careless not to take that into account. Hobbes' memory was likely dragging up some photograph he carried around with him but he was unable to expand the view any further than the picture depicted. 

"Yeah." Tom's answer was distracted. "Too long." He was still stubbornly attempting to piece together a clear image. "She showed me her wedding dress that last night." His cheeks flamed scarlet a second later. 

This was just too easy, Alex thought to himself. The young man was tripping over his feet offering up possibilities for Alex to exploit. 

"I've got a picture." Hobbes finally suggested. He announced it almost as if he'd forgotten he was in possession of it earlier. Tom shoved aside his book and pen before wriggling about to retrieve something from his back pocket. 

Alex used the opportunity to slide even closer, so that they jostled together as Hobbes tried to move. A fleeting press confirmed that Hobbes had the beginnings of an erection from whatever thoughts the mention of the wedding dress had led to. 

Tom blushed again at the intrusive touch and pushed his open wallet into Alex's hands. 

The picture was a bit worn, but still a sweet representation of the woman Krycek had seen meeting with Inga. Alex leaned back and wiggled around. He had toed off his shoes some time ago to relax his feet and luckily his socks were still pretty fresh. 

Hobbes let out a small puzzled sound, but he didn't hit Alex's feet away when one settled at his crotch, and the other was laid across him. 

"You're right. She's beautiful." Krycek said quietly. "Was she a model before things went to hell?" He flexed his toes and continued to talk without waiting for Hobbes to reply. "Her mouth is just made for kissing." 

Hobbes had tensed up completely now, and a grimace pulled at his mouth but his hands were still wavering over shoving Alex's feet away. 

"It doesn't look like she's wearing any lipstick here. That would be almost too much. The Venus de Milo doesn't need to be coloured." In case Hobbes had any doubts, Alex trailed his big toe up the seam of Tom's fly to make his intentions clear. 

Hobbes' horrified glance flipped from Alex's face to the people in the front seat and back again. 

"Have you ever seen the Venus de Milo, Hobbes?" Krycek increased the pressure slightly, massaging the other man's groin. "It's a gorgeous statue. A woman in full bloom, just like your girlfriend. Breasts that time has yet to taint. The line of the throat is so elegant. I've known a few women like that. Women that need to be worshipped from the tips of their toes..." Krycek rubbed softly at the increasing hardness under his foot. "Up their long legs. The inside of the leg is a tricky place. Touch it wrong and your partner will break into giggles, but a slow even stroke followed by a kiss will usually part them." Alex's other foot illustrated within the limits of the space and physical possibility. 

Hobbes gritted his teeth and, with an almost reluctant shift, turned on the bench seat to face Krycek. 

"The trick is not to dive in too soon." Alex continued to murmur. "Never underestimate how good lips can feel on the unexpected parts of your body." The ploy of talking about a woman was now discarded as Hobbes' legs spread to relieve the pressure of his tightening pants. "The arch of your foot, your ankles. The back of your knees." Krycek listed. He closed Tom's wallet and moved his gaze to the soldier. "I can see how tempting it would be to go straight for your cock. It feels like you've quite the impressive package there." Alex's foot continued its steady rubbing. "But I'd want to explore all the possibilities first. I'd want to play with your body, until the pre-come was making the tip of your cock glisten, and your hips were rocking with need." His voice was at its most hypnotic, and Alex was staring straight into Tom's wide blue eyes. "So I'd skim up your hips, tempted, but avoiding your piece. I'd want to rim your belly button though. Taste the thin salt. I'd like to scrape the flats of my teeth over your skin and watch it darken with blood. God, you're so stunning, Hobbes," Alex hissed out the exclamation. "I haven't been able to think about anything but you, since we got into this damned car." He groaned softly. "I know you go for women, and I know you've got a steady girl but, fuck, I'd love to touch you... to go down on you. Has a woman ever taken you all the way in without gagging? I can." 

Tom's head was tipped back against the window, and his blue eyes had narrowed to slits. Hobbes no longer seemed concerned with the occupants of the front seat. His legs were spread as far as possible, exposing himself to Alex's tormenting feet. 

Krycek half wished that Pinocchio or Florence would look back and notice what was going on, but that would only disturb Tom. There was time enough to begin the split, when he had Hobbes under control. Alex pushed to finish. 

"Later tonight, when we stop, I want to slip away in the darkness with you for a little while. I want to kneel down and worship you like you deserve. I want to suck you down and swallow everything you've got." Alex's foot massaged as hard as he dared without causing pain. 

Tom's lips were pressed tight, holding in his verbal reactions to the scenario Krycek had laid out but his arousal was physically blatant. 

"Come on Hobbes. Let it go. Take the edge off so you'll last longer tonight. Long enough to endure me sucking your balls. Long enough to grab me by the hair and fuck my mouth exactly how you like it." Alex encouraged. "Come on. Let it go before the diva looks in the rear view mirror and sees how fucking hot you look right now." 

Tom's hand lifted to his mouth and he bit down on the thick of it, near his thumb. His hips rose, pushing his groin violently into Alex's foot. 

"Fucking stunning. You're so fucking beautiful when you're coming." Krycek declared in a throaty whisper as the other man spasmed. 

"Jeez." Hobbes hid his eyes behind his spread fingers and twisted away, forcing Alex to move his legs and feet. "You shouldn't have done that." Tom kicked the seat in front of him and raised his voice to a shout in order to pierce the noise barrier. "Pinocchio! Stop for a minute." Hobbes demanded. 

The car came to a screeching halt. Both Pinocchio and Florence turned around to look into the back seat. Tom was crunched up in the corner with a faintly miserable look on his face. 

Florence's nose wrinkled and she sniffed. 

Pinocchio's normal scowl darkened to absolutely fearsome. "What the crap is going on?" 

"Just let me out of the damned car. I'm gonna be sick." Hobbes lashed out at the other man's seat back again. 

Pinocchio cursed, popped the door, and climbed out of the way. Hobbes dove for the ditch at the roadside and skidded down it, out of sight. 

"What the fuck did you do, asshole?" Pinocchio demanded of Alex. 

Krycek blinked slowly as he decided how to play the soldier of fortune. "It was between Hobbes and I. You want to know, ask him." Alex looked over at the deep ditch. "He's all right. Just startled." The stretch he spread into had a feline satisfaction about it. "Do you want me to bring him back or are we just going to wait on him?" 

"Just sit there and be quiet." Pinocchio snapped. He leaned on the car, arms crossed. "We'll give him ten minutes. Florence, maybe you and the mutt should ride in the back with the whore. I wanna talk to Hobbes." 

* * *

Inga had to press on Sophie's bell for almost two minutes before the apartment door finally opened. Sophie stood in the portal blinking in confusion. Her feet were bare, and the maternity nightgown she had on was still too big. 

"What's wrong?" Sophie rubbed at sleep-heavy eyes. 

"There's been some trouble." Inga pushed into the small, recently-occupied apartment. "Close the door. You mustn't attract attention," she ordered. 

"I don't understand." The blonde closed, locked, and put the safety chain on the door that she suddenly feared was too frail. "Why are you here? It's two am." 

"Sophie." Inga turned on the other woman with an intense expression. "I know you've made a lot of sacrifices over the last five months but..." the pause was purposefully open-ended. 

"But what?" Sophie closed the distance between them. "Has something happened to Tom?" 

"No. No," Inga protested. "It's simply that there are so many forces allied against us, Sophie. I need to stay out of sight for a little while. I need to stay here for a day or two." 

"Here?" Sophie looked about, as if confirming where they were, that it was still her living room. "I've got to go to work tomorrow. I've a program to run for the children tomorrow. No one else at the library can do it. I promised." 

Inga's hands lifted in a pacifying gesture. "I want you to go to work. I just can't go home to my place tonight. If you've internet access here, I'll straighten everything out in a little while and be on my way," she assured. "You can trust me, Sophie. This is only a minor setback. My access to Tom won't be affected." 

"Well." The blonde fidgeted. "I suppose so. The spare room is already a nursery. There's no bed in there." She looked at the couch expectantly. 

"You won't even know I'm here." Inga hung her jacket over a chair. "I'm a very quiet sleeper." She continued to walk, moving down the short hallway and entering the main bedroom without hesitation. "You must have coffee lying about for morning. That's one of my few needs." 

Sophie followed Inga with a look of confusion on her face. Her hand was fisted into the closing on the front of her robe. "It's not that I don't want to help but..." she pushed on in a rather breathless manner. "I don't know you. You feed me scraps of information that lead me along like a mouse in a maze. You pop in and out of my life without warning. You give me instructions that, half of the time, don't make any sense. I'm trying. I'm trying so hard to puzzle this out." Her volume was steadily rising. "You seem to know everything about me, but I know nothing about you. You're holding Tom ransom, and it's just not fair," she complained. "I'm not stupid either. I suspect you're trying to seduce me, and I don't understand why." Sophie deflated. "Just tell me the truth for once." 

Inga studied her target, with an amusement that she didn't allow to show. "Yes, I am." 

The admission was lost on Sophie. Her head shook in confusion. 

Inga took pity and closed the distance between them, to touch one of the blonde's flushed cheeks. "I am trying to seduce you." She said gravely. "But it has nothing to do with anything else." Inga studied Sophie's face, and what she saw there was promising. "You're a beautiful, fascinating woman, and I'm attracted to you." 

"Oh dear." Sophie sighed. "I don't think..." her head shook, making her long hair ripple in the dim lighting. Sophie's fingers had loosened a bit, and her robe gaped open slightly, revealing that she was nude underneath. "It wouldn't be right." 

Inga's first finger extended, and she used it to lever Sophie's chin up. She stared into the other woman's eyes, until a stillness settled over them. "I would never think to pressure you into something you didn't feel comfortable doing. You don't owe me anything, no matter all I've done for you and Tom." By mentioning it, Inga assured it would be a factor in Sophie's decision. 

Sophie's eyes closed in consideration. "What you're suggesting is..." Yet another sentence was left dangling, unfinished. 

Inga found the habit partially annoying and partially endearing. In order to avoid the inevitable sigh she moved to kiss the other woman. The action was on the edge of demanding, pushing Sophie's mouth open for her. Inga decided that she was going to precipitate a physical encounter and worry about the emotional declaration that Krycek had insisted upon later. Sophie was pleasantly pliant under the sensual assault. Her shoulders moved willingly when Inga slid her hands inside Sophie's robe to remove it. The fabric pooled around the blonde's feet. 

Inga dragged her lips off of Sophie's and nuzzled her way over to an ear. "Your skin is so soft." Her hands skated over Sophie's shoulders and stroked her collarbones. She petted down with one hand while the other eased around to the nape of Sophie's neck to tangle in fine gold hair. 

All the while Inga continued to suckle at the sensitive skin around her partner's ear and jaw. An impeccably manicured thumb and finger toyed with one heavy nipple, but that was secondary to other actions. There was a predatory satisfaction to the way Sophie's head tipped, offering access to her pale, delicate throat. 

Inga kept at the reddening skin. The only break was when she switched from one side to the other or back, and even then her mouth dragged rather than lifted. 

Eventually Sophie's hips began to rock, mindlessly, against the fully dressed woman. The blonde struggled against the motion, but lost, and her hands rose. Fingers dug into dark cloth, and Sophie pulled Inga against her. Surprised gasps escaped Sophie's throat at the sensation of bare skin against cloth. When she felt a faint hint of pain in one earlobe Sophie lifted one of her legs and made as if to hook it around the other woman. 

Inga stepped back, evading capture. One step at a time she coaxed Sophie over to the bed. The emotional associations of lying in the bed together would help increase the impact of the tryst. 

When they finally reached the edge of the bed Sophie practically collapsed onto the mussed sheets. Pausing only long enough to toe off her shoes, Inga crawled down on top of her victim. Every inch of Sophie's skin had to be worshipped in turn, from the bridge of her nose, down to her rounded tummy, and further on to each sensitive instep. The only place Inga avoided was the lushness between the blonde's legs. Men tended to dive right in, but Inga wanted more than her partner's immediate pleasure. She needed to tease Sophie into a frenzy first. 

There was a certain irony to the act, Inga realized. She was almost duplicating the sexual approach that Krycek had used on her when the bastard had seduced her, shortly after their first meeting. Marita Covarrubias, one of Inga's colleagues, had sworn to Inga that Alex was an absolute demon in bed and had suggested that Inga allow his advances. Marita had understated the triple agent's talents, but Inga had still regretted the lapse as soon as the sweat from the passion had dried. 

Reminded, Inga steeled her resolve and purposefully copied one of the moves that had so devastated her. Careful not to scratch too deeply, Inga dragged her nails from Sophie's knee, up the inside of her leg and flicked the sharpest delicately into the crease of the blonde's thigh. 

Sophie's legs parted in a wanton gesture. A continuous tremble shivered through the sprawled woman. Sophie had her heavy bottom lip pinched between her teeth, and her hands were restlessly opening and closing in the now mangled bottom sheet. 

Giving Sophie a few moments to cool down, Inga knelt up and finally began to undress. Careless of their value, Inga tossed her blazer and silk blouse to the floor. A lacy bra, that was more for show than support followed, as did her skirt. Inga had worn her underwear over top of the garter belt she had on just so she could remove the panties but leave her stockings intact. 

Sophie watched, her bright eyes getting wider at each revelation. She continued to stare as Inga fell gracefully forward onto her hands and knees. Her lips were already parting as Inga's mouth dropped down for a kiss. 

Inga plundered the willing mouth below her. She tasted all she could, then coaxed Sophie's tongue into returning the exploration. When Inga broke the kiss, they were both panting. It was time. Supporting herself with her hands, Inga dragged her open mouth down the other woman's body one more time. She nipped at the base of Sophie's throat, suckled at each heavy breast in turn, and bared her teeth to make the other woman feel her progress clearly over Sophie's stomach. 

Sophie was squirming in anticipation by the time Inga's lips reached the thatch of blonde hair. Kisses were laid all around Sophie's bikini line at first, and then Inga moved her attentions inward. Using the edge of one finger, Inga carefully parted damp lips to reveal a line of pale pink. Her mouth opened, and she exhaled heated breath against sensitive skin. 

Sophie made a small mewing noise, and her legs attempted to close. 

"Shh." More breath puffed out. "It's all right." Inga petted the inside of one leg to reassure the other woman. A tentative flick of her tongue caused another faint squeak of mixed distress and arousal. 

Sophie's head was thrown back even as it shook her denial. "The baby." She protested vaguely. 

"This won't hurt the baby." Inga assured between feathery kisses. "It will help you to relax which..." She blew out a thin stream of air. "...can only benefit the baby." 

"Tom." 

"Would understand. I promise you." Using the tip of her tongue, Inga insinuated into tender, hidden folds. It was a long time before she lifted her face again. "You're a healthy, vibrant woman, Sophie. You can't be expected to close yourself off from life." Inga's thumbs finally dared to part the other woman's down-covered lips. 

Sophie had given up offering even a token protest. Her legs were opening wider in invitation every moment. 

Inga dismissed speech as not longer important and concentrated on the body laid before her. Using the flat of her tongue, and an occasional brush of fingertips Inga set to giving Sophie a quick orgasm. She would slow down for the second set, and only then would she see about enticing the blonde into returning a measure of satisfaction to help cement the bond she wanted to form tonight. 

* * *

Pinocchio was cursing imaginatively, with his head stuck under the hood of the car. For some reason that he had yet to pinpoint, the damned thing had refused to start this morning. The Chevelle seldom gave him trouble that couldn't be traced to a bullet hole, so Pinocchio had yet to become an expert mechanic. 

Florence had gifted each one of the three men with a frown for three different reasons before fading into the stacks of crates and equipment that surrounded them. 

Pinocchio's universally directed anger had culminated in first yelling them all away, and then, in kicking at Tom's dog, Dexter. The creature had made the mistake of getting underfoot for the sixth time in an hour of frustrating exploration of the engine. 

Tom had been sullen all night long and unwilling to explain his sudden flight the day before, to the point of shouting at Pinocchio to 'shut up and leave me alone'. 

As for Alex, it seemed that Florence just disliked their guest for her own reasons. 

As it stood now, Hobbes was as far away from Pinocchio as possible while still remaining in line of sight. He had coddled his pet for a while, until the dog had wandered off after an interesting smell to roll in. 

Alex approached cautiously and sat down on the ground out of touching range of Tom. "He's grumbling something about the distributor now," Alex relayed. "I offered to help but..." He paused. "I was told I wasn't welcome." A distasteful look suggested much harsher words had been involved in the exile. 

"Do you know anything about cars?" Hobbes sounded sceptical. 

Green eyes flashed. "You're just like the Diva, aren't you? Only you hide it better at the start." Alex's chin lifted, and his upper lip curled. "Of course I couldn't possibly know anything about engines. I'm too stupid for any use but a fuck toy," he hissed. "That's why I offered." 

Tom flinched and actually looked at Alex for the first time in hours. "I'm sorry," he began. "I'm sorry for the way all of us are treating you, but you're not helping things with your attitude. That stunt in the back seat was..." Tom groped after the right word. 

"Cheap and slutty," Alex offered. "Totally uncalled for. Careless. Embarrassing for you." The list went on. "Hotter than hell. The only damned way I seem to be allowed to express myself anymore. All of the above?" 

"Stop it, Alex." 

"There! Just that." The seated man cut in. "You use my name and look me in the eyes when you talk to me, as if I were a real person and not a convenience." Alex's voice was laden with emotion. "I know things. I've people I care about. Hell, I've got a place waiting for me in a resistance group, if I can just catch up to them again. I do what I do to make sure my friends and I have food to eat, and to get information." His mouth snapped shut as if he had just realised he'd given something important away. 

Tom, as expected, leapt on the disclosure. "A resistance group? Is that what's in Wilmington? How organized are you?" 

"The Republic Guard will never believe you. They don't have anything on me. I'll convince them I'm nobody, and you're a liar. There's no bounty on me." Alex began to crabwalk backwards, eyeing the factory storage grounds that surrounded them. 

"No. Stop." Tom held his hands up, palms out. "Don't panic. My friends and I have been working against Santiago too. We're on the same side." 

At first the other frowned, then a glow burst into life inside Alex's eyes, as if a switch had been flipped. "Hobbes. My God. I should have known. You're Tom Hobbes. I've heard about you. You're going to save us." Just as suddenly the blaze vanished. "Why are you out here with THEM, not doing anything? Don't you realise how desperately you're needed?" He jumped to his feet. 

Hobbes shook his fair head. "I have been trying. Pinocchio, Florence and I have been making a difference. If you could take us to your group..." he trailed off at the cold look Alex turned towards the far-off car, and erstwhile repairman. "He's a good man normally, Alex. You've seen only his worst so far." 

Alex climbed to his feet. "I will never take THAT man within a mile of my friends. I don't care if it means losing everything to the Guard. HE isn't welcome in our company." 

"But Alex, is that your decision to make?" 

"I'm the one you're dealing with. I decide." The other stood firm. "I'll take you, Hobbes... Tom." Alex's eyes dropped to the weedy dirt at his feet. "If you were there to give us some direction, it would make all the difference." He tried to convey sincerity. Alex offered up his best look of wide-eyed admiration; something he hadn't used since his stint in the FBI. "Anything you need, Tom." The offer was delivered in a breathy whisper. 

"Don't." Hobbes winced. "Don't start that again." Even as he denied Alex, Tom swallowed in nervous excitement. 

Dark green eyes glanced Pinocchio's way, and then back again. "He's going to be a while," Alex observed. There was more authority behind the statement than Alex's voice conveyed. The sabotage he had performed on the car wouldn't be easily undone. "I don't know where his girlfriend got to." 

"Florence isn't Pinocchio's girlfriend. She's..." he hesitated. "... something special." 

Alex took a few steps to close the distance between them, but he didn't go close enough to make the fact he towered over Hobbes obvious. Damn but he was going to have to spend extra effort slouching and staying down on his knees. "Please Tom, just a few minutes. I want to do this with you. It doesn't have to mean anything to you. I don't care." 

"I don't do things like that." Hobbes' hands clenched, and he brushed the back of one over his upper lip. Sweat was beading up all over him. "I've a girl at home. I told you that." 

"I'm not asking you to take me home," Alex countered. "I just really want to blow you. I want to see that look on your face again. That radiance you wore just as you came." 

"Jeezus, Alex." Hobbes backed away, putting himself behind the shelter of a tall stack of metal containers. 

Alex followed him. He dropped down while still over an arm's length away from Tom and shuffled to close the distance on his knees. 

Hobbes gazed down as if mesmerized. He didn't move or make a sound until Alex caught his hips, leaned in, and dragged an open mouth up Tom's crotch. Hobbes bowed out into the attention, and a guttural groan escaped as his head fell backwards. 

The clink of Tom's belt, and the grate of a metal zipper sounded unnaturally loud in the desolation. Alex fished into the other man's pants with his right hand and dragged the garment down with his left. 

Tom's cock jumped at the touch of Alex's fingers, growing steadily. A few swipes of his tongue along the underside made Tom hiss. Hobbes' hand wavered, not quite at the point of grabbing Alex's hair, but hovering nearby. 

A single finger played across the hard length. "This beauty is curved just right." Krycek murmured in admiration. "I'll bet it would feel wonderful sliding inside." He brushed his lips over the tip and felt them dampen. 

Hobbes groaned and cautiously settled his hand into dark brown hair. 

"Would you rather?" Alex's lips parted, and he began gently suckling, while his fingers kept a firm grip on the base of Tom's cock. 

Hobbes' light touch turned into a solid grip quickly enough. Alex had to resist consciously in order to keep the action slow and deliberate. As the session slowly progressed, Krycek could feel fingers digging in and starting to pull hair, but he refused to be rushed along. When he eventually pulled back to the tip and puffed out a breath of air, Hobbes almost shouted. 

"Don't stop, damn you." Tom's voice cracked under the strain of keeping the volume down. "Please." 

Alex mouthed wetly at the tip of Tom's cock, but he used his hands to tear open his own pants. When his hand was free, Krycek steadied the stiff piece, so he could use the point of his tongue to tease out even more moisture. "I've got something better." Alex promised in a silky purr before risking torn hair by pulling free. 

Picking one of the crates that looked the closest to waist high, Krycek shoved his jeans down and bent forward, bracing his elbows on the dirty container. A glance over his shoulder told him that Hobbes was hesitating. "Come on Tom. I may be experienced, but I still need you wet, if you want to fuck me. Give it to me before you dry off." 

Thwarted lust was still glazing Tom's eyes, as Alex had hoped. Hobbes moved almost mindlessly. Shaking hands took hold of and spread Krycek's ass cheeks. "It won't work." Hobbes' tone shook even worse than his touch. "It can't fit." He suddenly realised that all his experience was useless in this case. 

"It will." Alex coaxed, widening his stance as much as his hobbled ankles would allow and bending further over. "Put the head of your cock against the hole and push. Nice and slow," he instructed. "This is going to feel so good, Tom, for both of us. It's going to blow your mind." 

Muttering curses Hobbes followed the instructions nervously. The strain he felt at holding back was obvious in the way he touched Alex. 

Blunt pressure. Fuck! Alex swore internally. He should have stretched himself before chasing Tom down, but it hadn't been possible. This was going to burn. "Push Tom. I won't break." Krycek gritted his teeth and shoved backwards. His breath caught as Hobbes first penetrated him, but once the crown passed his breath hissed out of him. "Sonofabitch." 

Tom's head fell forward and rested on Krycek's spine. The air was rasping out of Hobbes. 

"Stay still for a minute." Alex whispered. "Just give me a minute. You're bigger than I'm used to." That wasn't exactly true, but most men wanted to hear that. 

Tom was muttering curses of his own. His rapid exhales were hot against Krycek's skin. "Tight. I didn't think." Hobbes' sentences were broken. "So fucking hot." Tom's fingers dug into Alex's hips and pressed further in. 

"I'm ready." Krycek assured. "Give me the rest," he coaxed. Alex lifted a bit off the crate, his spine curving. "God, Tom." 

Even as his mind was screaming objections, Hobbes' body practically sang its enjoyment. He'd forgotten just how glorious it was to push inside another body. Tom hadn't felt the sensation since entering the Realm. Fuck, he hadn't realised how much he missed it until this moment. Other, more tender, acts were tangled up in this one. Without even realising he'd begun it, Tom's mouth dropped to lay a line of sucking kisses on the sweaty skin below his face. His hands skated around to the front of the body in his arms and a jolt of disorientation shook Hobbes as a puckered, but completely flat nipple, and a stiff male organ hit the palms of his hands. 

Keeping one hand down to hold his balance, Alex wrapped his right hand around the outside of Tom's fingers, trapping them against his erection. "This feels so good." He growled, flexing cautiously against Hobbes' body, wary of the twinges of pain the penetration had provoked. Krycek was certain if Hobbes could manage little more pre-come and a few scrapes across his prostate then things would loosen up. "Fuck me, Tom. I've been imagining this since I laid eyes on you. C'mon, Tom. Give it to me." 

The first pull out and thrust was tentative but as Alex's groans of desire grew even more genuine... deepening, so did the action. 

Tom's hand on Krycek's cock trembled, but he allowed Alex to guide him by threading their fingers together. It was odd and familiar at the same time. Hobbes wasn't so self-controlled that he hadn't jerked off in his life, although chances to do even that had been few and far between lately. Still, the feeling of a firm, thickening rod sliding through his fingers took on an erotic strangeness when it belonged to someone else. 

Alex was more vocal than Sophie had ever been. Tom's nights with Sophie had accustomed him to tiny squeaks of pleasure and frantic panting, but no actual words. Alex talked. His voice was low and breathy, enticing Tom to fuck him harder and murmuring how damned good it was. The coaxing and praise hooked straight into Tom's brain, and sent unexpected bolts of arousal through him. 

"Wanted you. Need you." Alex moaned, his hand dragging Hobbes' over the leaking end of his cock and slicking the moisture back over himself. "You fuck like a dream. It hasn't been this good in too long. Fuck, Tom. Fill me up. You're so hot." 

Krycek's patter burned through Tom, encouraging the fever in Hobbes' mind and body higher. His throat strained to respond, but he was having trouble gathering enough brain cells together to form words. The sentence he finally managed to force out was broken by grunts of pleasure. "Alex. Keep talking Alex. It's... oh God. Alex." 

Just the name seemed to be enough for Krycek. His body shuddered convulsively underneath Tom each time it was spoken. 

"You know it's me. God, Tom." Alex continued on in that same mind-entangling purr. "I'll be good for you. I wanna be yours. Stay with me. You can fuck me like this every night. Aahh. Baby. Harder, Tom. Do me harder. I wanna feel this for days. I want your come dripping out of my ass all night, reminding me how fucking wonderful this is." 

There was no way to respond except to press his face into Alex's slick skin and slam into that scorching body. Krycek welcomed that reaction, groaning and increasing the speed of his and Hobbes' fingers on his own cock. 

"Oh God, Tom. The feel of you." The soft whisper was falling away. Alex's voice steadily rose. "Give it to me. I'm so close." He groaned, loudly now. "You're so good. Deep and hard. Feels like your cock is fucking my throat from below." 

Hobbes' teeth bared, cutting into the shoulder before him. Alex spasmed, and impossible pressure dragged at Tom's sensitized cock. He managed just a few more tortuous thrusts before his own orgasm tore out of him. It felt like more than his come was pouring into Alex. Some part of himself seemed to have been dragged out, along with the mind-numbing fulfilment. 

Tom lay across the broad back below him. Alex seemed happy enough to support his weight for a time. Hobbes nuzzled into dark hair. Licking his lips, he was surprised by an almost coppery tang. A lazy look showed him that two thin trickles of blood were leaking out from two points on the bite he had bestowed on Alex's shoulder. "Christ, I'm sorry Alex." Tom brushed his mouth over the injury, dabbing with his tongue in apology. The lick turned into a series of kisses up and into the curve of Krycek's throat. "Thank you for this." Tom nibbled at his ear. "Tell me how I can thank you for this, Alex." 

"I told you. I want you, Tom. I want to be with you." 

"If you'd told me you were hard up, Hobbes, I'd've found you a better piece than this." The snarled offer came from behind them. "There were at least two other whores back at the settlement. Both of them were women, and neither were as well-used as this one." 

Startled, Hobbes scrambled back from Alex, grabbing at his pants. 

Pinocchio paced over before Krycek could stand and dropped a heavy hand on the back of his neck. "Still, being as you've got him all primed up, maybe I should take a turn." 

Tom expected that Alex would bolt upright and shove Pinocchio away with curse. What really cut him to the core was that Alex just stayed down. Only the fact that he hid his face with his bent arms gave away any sign of distress. 

Guilt knotted up Tom's stomach, banishing the glow of satisfaction he'd just experienced. "Leave him alone." Hobbes closed the distance and shoved his companion back with a push to his chest. "Get dressed Alex. Pinocchio isn't going to touch you." 

"You just don't get it," the older man complained. "It doesn't matter what we do with him. He's a fucking rent-boy, and a God-damned, out-of-date one at that. He's not even real," Pinocchio reminded the other. "Screw him if you want to, but don't let him mess with your head. You have to remember that he's just a VC whore." 

"I don't want to hear it," Hobbes snapped back. "I'm fucking tired of listening to that routine." 

Pinocchio looked like he was about to launch into an all-out rant but it strangled off, and he turned around. His complaint drifted behind him as he stalked off. "Just a God damned VC whore." 

"I'm sorry, Alex." Tom turned back to Krycek, just in time to see him drag his trousers back into place. 

Alex's chin lifted, and he offered up a look that attempted to be blank but was cracked around the edges. "Nothing to be sorry about. It's not like any of it matters. As soon as you're finished with me and you leave me in Wilmington, you and the diva can kiss and make up." Krycek swallowed. "If you'll excuse me; I need a few minutes." Without giving Hobbes time to object, Alex cut around the corner of a crate and vanished. 

Hobbes stood in place staring at nothing for a long time. 

* * *

Inga leaned against the kitchen counter, nursing a mug of coffee. This morning was full of strangeness. Waking up in another person's bed wasn't common in Inga's life. She usually left before dawn pinked the sky. 

The embarrassed blush on Sophie's face had been odd too. When Inga had shifted close to kiss the other woman, Sophie had startled backwards and fled to the bathroom. 

After stopping by the mirror and using a tissue to tidy up her less than perfect make-up, Inga helped herself to the robe lying on the floor by the bed. She had no intention of getting dressed until Sophie was gone for the day, but neither was Inga comfortable with her own nude body. Bare skin was something to be showed in tempting flashes, so the novelty wouldn't wear off. 

The sound of Sophie wrestling with a bit of fabric warned Inga of the blonde's approach. She was tugging at the sides of her skirt. A tiny frown line marked her forehead. 

Sophie stopped short, self-consciously dragging at the wrinkled material. "I was hoping to be able to wear this until the baby came, but it's not big enough. I'm a whale." She sighed heavily. "And clothes are so expensive." 

It was pitiful, how little money Sophie had in the bank. Inga's mind considered possibilities. She decided to offer straight out. "I have access to some research funds. If you could put together a report for me..." Inga's lips pursed. "Would you do a paper on the effect constant relocation has on the children of army staff... that's one of the areas being investigated, and the children who come into your library could provide valuable insight." Moving to offer a cup of coffee to the other woman brought them close together. "You have a wonderful rapport with your younger visitors." 

Sophie accepted the offered mug, blushing prettily when their fingers tangled. "You've noticed that?" 

"I've been watching you." Inga didn't release the other woman's hand. Instead, she leaned in to steal a kiss. 

Sophie squirmed slightly, but she didn't actually fight the intimacy. 

Feeling bolder, Inga opened her mouth in invitation. 

Sophie giggled and tried to move the steaming mug out from between them. Once it was safely on the counter, the blonde began to respond to the kiss. Hesitation slipped away, and Sophie's tongue dared just inside her lover's lips. Her arms wrapped around Inga, pulling their bodies together as much as her stomach would allow. The embrace tightened, persisting until Inga broke the kiss. 

Cheeks bright pink, Sophie gasped. "I can't believe this." Her head shook. "I should be ashamed of myself." The distance between them widened once more. "I love Tom. You know I do." 

"I know," Inga assured the other. "You haven't done anything he wouldn't understand." Her finger's lifted to brush the gold strands by Sophie's ear. "You're alone at a time when you need support the most. You're a brave woman struggling with more than your share of burdens. I want to help, and I'm sure Tom would understand. He has people with him... friends by his side, a lover." Inga finished the sentence in a tiny whisper. 

Still, the reminder made Sophie flinch. "I should go. I'll be late for work." 

"Not until you eat something." Blocking the way, Inga made a gesture with her fingers, that Sophie should sit down. "Let me make you some toast and eggs. You need to eat better, for your sake and for the baby's." 

Blue eyes shone with gratitude briefly, then Sophie's gaze dropped to the tabletop in embarrassment. 

* * *

Alex stayed in hiding. Night fell. Dinner was devoured without a scrap being set aside. Florence seemed to be bothered by Alex's disappearance, but Pinocchio had made a lame jest about how Alex's body wouldn't suffer from missing 'one' meal. The healer had nodded and withdrawn to lie down. 

Luckily voices carried enough that Alex could lounge on a stack a fair distance away and still hear the two men speaking. 

"If I can't figure out what's wrong with the freaking car by nine am, we should start walking." Pinocchio poked at the fire that had heated their dinner, making sure that the coals were cooling. 

"Maybe you should let Alex take a look at it. He said he knew something about cars." Tom's voice was harder to hear. 

"I don't need that whore poking around it." 

"His NAME is Alex," Tom corrected. "And it's not like you're doing much good working alone." 

Pinocchio snarled. "The bitch is gone anyway, Hobbes. He's likely running to turn us over to the Guard. I halfway think we should be on the road already. The whore is going to spill his guts, and we're going to lose everything we can't carry, if I don't get the damned car running." 

"Stop it, Mike. It's bad enough that you won't let me go look for him. He could be hurt. He's been gone too long," Tom complained. "Alex has connections. He says..." 

"Stow it Hobbes. The slut lied. He played you. He got you to admit who you were, wiggled his ass to keep you confused and screwed you when you thought you were fucking him. Good riddance to him." 

Alex couldn't help but smile. The more Pinocchio ran Alex down, the more enthusiastically Hobbes would take his new lover's side. Stupid grunt. 

"That's enough. I don't care what you think. I'm going out to find him like I should have done hours ago." 

"In the dark? Alone? Don't be a fool, Hobbes. You can't go screeching his name. We don't know what's out there, and besides, you said you'd take first watch. I'm freaking wrecked and I don't think I can manage to split the night with just Florence and stay alert," Pinocchio reasoned in a less arrogant tone. "Maybe Alex..." There was a noticeable pause before and after he spoke the name aloud. "...decided to walk to Wilmington by himself. Wait until sunrise. You and Florence can both do a search while I finish up on the car." 

Perfect. Alex slid carefully down from his perch and began creeping closer. As soon as Grumpy crashed he'd present himself to Hobbes, fix the car while Pinocchio was asleep and spend the rest of the night snuggled up with Tom when the watch changed. 

When he ghosted out of the shadows, Alex was careful to keep his hands clearly extended until Tom recognized him. 

"God, Alex..." The barrel of Hobbes' gun dropped. Tom jerked in place, as if stifling a movement that he wasn't sure he should make. "I was worried about you." 

"Yeah, sure you were." Alex made certain that his voice held obvious disbelief. 

"Do you want something to eat? I could open..." The whisper faded out to nervous silence as Tom glanced in the direction of his sleeping companions. 

"If you bothered to leave any coffee, I'll take it." Alex didn't try to enter the sphere of the dying campfire, but rather drifted over to the car. "I could use a flashlight." Opening the driver's door, Alex reached in to pop the hood. 

Tom appeared at Alex's shoulder while Alex was staring down into the impossible blackness that was the Chevelle's engine. A coffee mug was handed over. The flashlight flared to life in Tom's grip. 

"Where should I point it?" 

"You're on watch." Alex sat his drink down and caught at the end of the flashlight. His hand closed around Tom's cool fingers. "I can take care of this alone. I just need you to keep the diva away from me if he wakes up." 

"He's not..." Tom began, but stopped at the sight of the grimace on Alex's face. "I want you to feel safe around us. I messed up. I'm sorry." Pale, worried, blue eyes were fixed on the other man's expression. Tom's lower lip trembled. 

It was too much for Alex to resist. Using their shared grip on the flashlight, Alex closed the distance between them. Initially startled by the kiss that was pressed on him, Tom pulled slightly, attempting to escape, but within a matter of seconds he surrendered to the contact. Tom's mouth opened eagerly. He kept hold of his gun, but the flashlight fell to the dirt so he could grab at the back of Alex's neck and hold him close. 

Panting, Alex broke away just enough brush his lips near Tom's ear. "If you weren't on watch I'd..." Alex nibbled. "I'd suck you so far down my throat that your brain would melt and run out your delicious ears." Fingers carded through fine hair. "If I fix the car will you let me lie with you? Let me hold you while we sleep? Please Tom. I know they'll see but... Tell me what it would cost. I'll pay it. If you want me to disappear in the morning, I will. No argument. Just let me lie beside you tonight." Alex's hands, free to roam, mapped out Tom's form. "I'll fix the car. I'll go down on the diva when he wakes up. I'll go to the Republic Guard and lead them away from you. Anything." He sucked at an earlobe. "Please Tom. I just need a few hours in your arms. I haven't felt as complete as I do when I'm pressed against you... not in years." 

"Jeezus, Alex." The blond soldier shuddered, arching into the contact. "You're... the way you talk. God. You don't have to do anything. I don't want you to leave, Alex. It's just... this is too much. I can't do this." 

Dragging his open mouth over Tom's face, Alex inflicted another searching kiss. When he broke off and stepped back, Tom was shaking uncontrollably. 

"I've got a girl. I told you that." 

"She never has to know. If you found her tomorrow I'd vanish without a peep. I swear I would. Can't you just spare me a little time? Until we get to Wilmington?" Alex's face dropped, hiding. "Oh fuck. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Tom. You're just so perfect, and I'm nothing but a whore. It's just I want you so bad. It hurts how much I want you. I'm sorry." Crouching, Alex sought after the flashlight. When it was found he stood and turned away to stare down into the engine compartment once again. Alex kept his face averted so Tom wouldn't see the smirk that blossomed when Tom eased up to touch Krycek's shoulder. 

A sigh gusted out of Hobbes. "If you want to share my blanket, I'd like that." The offer murmured out, and then the blond withdrew his hand. "I'm going to walk the perimeter. I'll be back in a few minutes." 

* * *

When Sophie arrived home it was to discover music playing, candles burning and the most amazing aromas drifting in the air. 

Inga finished covering the evidence of the fact dinner had been delivered, with a couple of shopping bags shoved into the top of the garbage. Several pots lay upside down in the dish drainer, dripping clean water. Inga was no kind of cook but Sophie didn't have to know that. The illusion that Inga had put some effort into the meal would help things along. 

Padding out from the kitchen, dressed in one of Sophie's nightgowns, Inga smiled a welcome. "We've another ten minutes before everything is ready. You should go take a warm shower." 

Sophie blinked in surprise. 

"Come now. I know that you love your job, but it can't be easy, entertaining children all day. You need to sit and relax. Think of the baby." Inga guided the other woman through the apartment and into the bedroom. 

"Oh! You don't need to..." Sophie protested softly as Inga began to undo her shirt buttons. 

"I'm imposing on you. Let me help however I can, Sophie." The blouse was opened and pushed back off of soft shoulders. Inga stepped around Sophie to open her bra. "Dear me. You need new clothes." A reddened line marked the skin that her bra-straps had cut into. Bending, Inga kissed her way up the crease and into the cascade of blonde hair. 

"OH!" Sophie let out a squeak and trembled as cool lips touched the back of her neck. "Oh my." 

Hair was brushed aside, and Inga lavished attention on the smooth skin behind Sophie's ears. When the younger woman whimpered, Inga pulled back. Sophie was gradually undressed while Inga continued to arouse her target, heating Sophie to a level of expectant excitement, only to let her down when it grew too intense. Fingers teased nipples gently. A kiss at Sophie's spine accompanied removing her skirt. Kneeling, Inga caressed up the inside of a shapely leg while removing nylons. Panties were eased off as fingernails scratched lightly, and Inga's breath stirred the short golden hair that covered Sophie's mound. 

When Inga finally eased back on her heels, Sophie was all but panting. 

"Take a warm shower. I'll lay some comfortable clothes out for you and then go see to dinner." A small smile preceded Inga climbing to her feet. She had searched the place while alone today and found a thin, silk robe of sapphire blue. It would do nicely, and the slippery material of the belt wouldn't hold it closed worth a damn. 

Supper, which they ate on the sofa, was a collection of delicious finger foods like shrimp, savoury bits of stuffed pastry and tiny quiches. Inga fed her companion, making sure her fingers smoothed sauce-slickened lips whenever possible. When a drop of seafood sauce dripped on the curve of an exposed breast, Inga immediately lowered her head to lick at the smear. Moving her mouth to Sophie's nipple was a natural progression. Inga didn't bother asking permission to touch. Her left hand eased up under the skimpy robe, traced a soft thigh, and brushed carefully at Sophie's protected clitoris. 

"Oh Inga!" Sophie's hips jerked in reaction. 

"Soon." Inga pulled off with one last lick. Her hand withdrew as well. "You need to eat more first. You're not taking proper care of yourself." 

Four more times Inga pushed her right to the edge of surrender, only to ease back when her companion seemed about to overheat. Sophie's robe had fallen open and stayed that way, making her look impossibly wanton. The colour was high in the blonde's cheeks and her legs were spread apart, one foot on the couch, one on the carpet. 

"Let's go to bed." The suggestion was a husky whisper, voiced as Inga nuzzled her lover's exposed throat. 

Language gone, Sophie simply nodded. As Inga drew the other woman along, Sophie couldn't stop herself from instigating a kiss. Her eagerness pleased Inga immensely. 

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Sophie was the one to push Inga's nightgown open so she could kiss one pale shoulder and the top of Inga's breast. "Take this off. I want to see you too." 

When they were both nude, the two women lay back on the folded-down bedding. Sophie was a wealth of sighs and encouraging whimpers. Her fingers darted cautiously at first but quickly progressed to clutching at Inga's body. 

"Tell me what you want," Inga prompted. 

"I don't know." Her words were a shushed squeal. Sophie squirmed. "Maybe... I can't." 

"Say it." Inga's tongue flicked at the other's ear. "No one but us will ever know." 

A pained groan delayed Sophie's request. "Can you use your fingers? Touch me... down there... and inside me." 

Inga had to swallow a laugh. Most of the men she's been with would have been demanding a good, hard fuck in graphic detail by now. By concentrating on rubbing her thumb over the bright pink flesh, Inga was able to contain her brief spike of emotion. Sophie's desperate little noises of desire were awfully enticing in their own way. Inga suspected that she could listen to them a long time before tiring of the sound. 

"Oh please." Sophie's body trembled with excitement. She gasped as a finger pierced her. 

"Pretty." Inga sinuously squirmed down Sophie's body. Her finger eased out. It was dripping. As two fingers pushed back into Sophie's crevice, Inga's mouth pressed into the folds above the entrance. She swiped her tongue once, and then set to sucking at Sophie's blood-swollen clit. 

Bent legs spread wider. "OH YES! Oh God!" 

Sophie was eager enough that a third and fourth finger were simple to add. Inga pumped her hand slowly, dragging out the pleasure. Her tongue trailed all around, helping things even further along. Sophie's legs shook. Carefully, on one back pull, Inga's thumb joined the bunched push into the blonde's dripping opening. 

Using her knees for traction, Inga squirmed higher until she could kiss the breasts of the woman writhing below her. Looking up, Inga waited for Sophie to meet her eyes. Inga's declaration was smoky hot. "I have my whole hand inside of you, love. How does it feel?" Her wrist twisted. 

Sophie threw back her head and screamed. Her legs snapped shut, trapping Inga's hand. The blonde's body spasmed violently over and over again. A shaky moan passed heavy lips and Sophie's head tossed. 

It took a few moments before muscles eased enough to allow Inga to withdraw her hand. Sophie groaned again and the air thickened with the scent of her. Inga was surprised to realize her own breathing was shallow and fast; arousal nagged insistently at her body. 

"Sophie." Hands pressed to either side of the younger woman's face. One dripping, one dry, both warm with rushing blood. Inga took a kiss from panting lips. "I'm hungry for you." She was barely containing the urge to rub herself against Sophie's leg. 

"Tell me what to do." Sophie's voice was rich with undertones. "I'd like to try... would you let me lick you... down between your legs?" 

Lids dropped to hide the fact that Inga's eyes rolled. "Yes. Please do. That would be perfect." 

Sophie smiled, tugging so Inga would lie down at her side. When the dark haired woman was stretched out, Sophie rolled over to rest her cheek on one of Inga's shoulders. Hesitantly, the blonde's fingers explored her lover's form. It felt odd to Inga, the way Sophie was so careful. Odd, but good. 

"You're so... perfect." Short fingernails brushed through the tidily trimmed hair at Inga's bikini line. "Your hair, your nails, your make-up. It's all perfect." 

When Sophie's touch edged down between furred lips Inga's frame jolted. Her heels dug in, raising the lower half of her body in invitation. Inga wanted to demand more contact. Her body felt better than it had in too long. 

Laying a line of gentle kisses, Sophie moved down, and then over the other's body, ending up sprawled between Inga's widespread legs. Delicate fingers carefully exposed Inga's core. Sophie smiled nervously before bringing her face close. Her tongue extended slowly, the tip barely brushing the little node of sensation. 

A strangled yelp escaped, embarrassing Inga internally. It was foolishness. A great many, far better, lovers had gone down on her over the years without breaking her reserve. It was just part of the act, Inga told herself, as another amateurish lick sent sparks through her body. 

"Sophie! Yes." Inga dropped a hand to tangle in that thick golden hair. It took a great deal of willpower not to force her companion's face deeper, but instead to just pet and guide the in-experienced woman. Fortunately Sophie's eagerness to please was strong. Careless of her own comfort, the blonde pushed tight, lapping even more enthusiastically each time Inga made a sound of pleasure. Hands cupped Inga's behind, as it rose off the sheets in offering. Even muffled little sounds of delight vibrated Sophie's lips. A single finger pushed cautiously inside Inga, rubbing. 

Surprisingly quickly, Inga felt the beginnings of an orgasm. Since Inga's training had taught her not to snap her legs closed when it overcame her, Sophie continued licking, pressing, and nibbling without pause. The second time Inga came was almost painful, arriving too quickly on the heels of the first. 

A hand pressed to Sophie's forehead and a faint, "Stop." Pushed the blonde away. 

Sophie looked up over her new lover's heaving chest. Her blue eyes were wide and shining, her chin was soaked, and she was smiling brightly enough to rival the sun. "Did I do it?" Her cheeks burnt bright red. "Did you... um... feel it?" The blush spread down her throat to her breasts. "I wasn't sure." 

"Yes." Inga tugged, encouraging Sophie to move up and snuggle into her. "You were wonderful." 

With a nervous giggle, Sophie complied. "It's easier to tell with a guy. Tom was never sure if I..." The glow vanished as sure as a candle being snuffed out. Sophie's eyes closed and her face turned away. 

"No, don't. It's all right." Inga gathered the blonde's tense body against her. "It's sharing between friends. You've done nothing wrong, darling," Inga soothed. "Trust me. I've taken care of you and Tom all this time. You can trust me." 

A heaving breath escaped Sophie, but as it huffed out her body became slightly less stiff. "Neither of us have ever been with anyone else, not intimately. I've never been with another man." 

"And you still haven't," Inga countered, "But you're lonely. It's not fair for him to expect you to wait all alone... with no one to help you. Shush. You haven't done anything wrong. Trust me." Inga kept a tight hold on the other woman, stroking down Sophie's back. "You're tired, over-worked, over-stressed. Rest a little while, Sophie. It's all right." 

Soft sniffles escaped even as the blonde burrowed tight against Inga desperate for some kind of comfort. 

* * *

Pinocchio's upper lip curled into a sneer as he looked into the rear-view mirror. The men in the back seat knew better than to fuss on each other with Pinocchio keeping watch over them. Slamming the brakes on, a few unnecessary, and rather painful, hairpin turns had resulted whenever the driver had caught sight of Hobbes or Krycek falling into any sort of intimate pose. 

Alex certainly hadn't endeared himself to Pinocchio by fixing the car. Quite the opposite. Mike had grown even more bitter when he realized what Alex had achieved in a few hours of unsupervised tinkering. The unexplained repair job, combined with finding Krycek and Hobbes curled together in the morning had put Pinocchio in a mood sour enough to send the dog, Dexter, whimpering into the backseat and hiding under his paws. 

Reckless speeding had brought them hurtling toward Wilmington over the course of the day. It was obvious Pinocchio wanted Alex gone as quickly as possible, and only Hobbes stood in the way of just tossing the newcomer into the nearest ditch and leaving him. 

A glance out the window told Alex how close they were to the city, and his recently created resistance cell. The small group of people Krycek had requested to be programmed into the game for him to use should have insinuated themselves into things quite comprehensively by now. They had been woven into the game even before he himself had been scanned. 

Krycek couldn't help but smile at the memory of the tech staring across at him in surprise when Alex laid out his requirements. The group of people he'd requested had been based on a unit he'd worked with back in his teens. They were mostly female, and one of the oddest assortments of ages and personalities that Krycek ever tripped across during his career. The crew was just unlikely enough that no one would ever make them for a created plant. 

The Chevelle screeched to a halt. "Wilmington city limits," Pinocchio announced curtly. "Get your ass out of my car. I'd say it's been nice meeting you... but it'd be a fucking lie, and we both know it." 

"Damn it, Pinocchio!" Tom glared forward as the door opened. "You are not just going to dump Alex here. I want to meet his people. We could help each other." 

"The deal was to get him to Wilmington. Here it is. I want him out of my car and gone. He's poison, Hobbes. He's fucking with you. I can see it. Florence can see it. Don't be a patsy." 

The healer suddenly found herself the object of Tom's scrutiny. She glanced once in Alex's direction, and then turned her face away with a frown. Her door pushed open. Florence climbed out and shoved the lever, moving the seat so Krycek could get out of the car. 

"Told ya," Pinocchio gloated. 

"I don't need this shit." Alex let out a weary sigh. "If you want to come with me, Tom, I'll take you to meet my crew, but these two... they can stay here and scratch their asses... or leave right now. I won't have them around my people. I'd rather let Santiago's men steamroll right over top of us than take them in." Krycek slid up and out of the vehicle. 

Hobbes let out a disgusted huff of air then pushed out after Alex, before Florence could shove the seat back in place. "Alex, wait!" Tom had to shout. Krycek had started walking down the road without a backwards glance. "Florence." Tom caught and squeezed the woman's arm. "Can you keep Mike here for a few days. I'm going to go in, find out the score, and then come back." 

Brows pushed together, the mute woman shook her head. She gestured for Tom to get back into the car. 

"Just a few days. Wait for me." Hobbes looked over the roof of the Chevelle. Pinocchio had climbed out as well. "Just let me look it over? Let me see if there's anything to this that we can use. We can't keep fighting this war all alone, Mike. If Alex has people we can use..." 

"This stinks. He's fucking with you, Hobbes. Don't follow him. He's not right. I just know it." 

"How? How is it that you know everything, and I know nothing? Jeez, Mike. I'm not an idiot. Why do you have to treat me like one? I'm as good a soldier as you are." Hobbes shoved away, walking backwards. "I'll be back in three days. I hope you'll be here, but if you're not... so be it." Whirling around, Tom broke into a run, so he could catch up to Alex. 

Florence spun in place, glaring at Pinocchio and gesturing after their friend. 

"He's gotta learn, Florence." Mike's tone was defensive. 

Her head tilted, and Florence exhaled harshly. Her dark eyes glittered. 

"Fine. Fine. You win. You always win. Give it an hour. We'll track him." 

* * *

They'd skulked their way through the streets of Wilmington to the designated base for Krycek's crew. With rumours of Santiago's imminent arrival in the wind, only the roughest customers remained in the city, and Alex wasn't in the mood to butt heads with any of them. Hobbes was carrying a machine gun and wore a sidearm, but Alex didn't have a gun on him. It wouldn't have fit in with the image he'd developed for Tom's sake, and his traveling companions hadn't bothered to arm him during the trip. 

Just coming around the corner across the street from the base of operations, Alex walked into the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun. The teenage girl holding it glowered up at the two men, looking far more fierce than any kid her age had a right to be. 

Hobbes raised his own weapon but there was a definite hesitation to the action, betraying that he was uncomfortable with either her age or gender. 

Using one finger, Krycek touched the tip of the girl's weapon and turned it aside. "I missed you too, PoohBah." 

"Bite me, Krycek. You're late. We should have bugged out days ago, but they're making us wait for you. Not my choice." Her nose wrinkled as she looked past their senior operative to scope out Hobbes. "If he's the reason you're late... it better not be what I think, or Megan's going to rip a strip off your back." 

Alex looked over his shoulder at Tom, before returning his attention to the girl. His grin was stunning. "I've brought us Tom Hobbes." 

Gun barrel dropping to the dirt, PoohBah moved so she could get a better look at Krycek's companion. "THE Tom Hobbes? 'The one'? Yes!" Her smile broke out slowly and lit up her whole face. "Perfect. Quick, take him in. I'm on sentry duty, but I'll be in to help pack up when we change the guard." 

Looking back as Alex drew him down the alleyway before them, Tom murmured softly, "She's so young." 

"Don't let her hear you say that." Krycek pulled his lover past an overturned car that took up most of the entrance. "That kind of thing doesn't matter any more. It's about survival these days. Myself, I almost envy the kids that'll grow up in the world the way it is now. They don't know what we lost, how things changed. They can't miss what they don't remember." Alex's expression darkened. "The bombs, the fallout, and the weirdness that started happening after the first explosion, like the laws of nature suddenly fucked up... they were bad enough, but we might've gotten past them... fixed things, learned to live with it... then Santiago had to step in and turn what was left upside down." Krycek pushed at a non-descript door in the side of an ancient apartment building. 

Hobbes held back from entering the dark portal. "Alex, do you know about the real world?" 

Pausing in place, Krycek stared. "Is that another resistance cell? It sounds like the name of a band I was in once... what a joke." His laugh was almost a sob. "Fuck I miss music." 

"Do you ever wonder why people don't die properly any more, Alex? Why they fizz out in a cloud of static?" 

"Oh fuck..." Leaning in the doorway, Krycek rubbed at the crease between his eyebrows. "That's gotta be the worst. The first time I saw it, I lost it... screamed myself raw and tried to back through a wall to get away from it." A shaky breath gusted out. "Fernando guessed it was the result of some alien biotech weapon. Yeah, right." He shook his head. "Azar says 'It's magic' and waves a hand in the air like some God-damned stage performer. Sometimes I think that woman is pushing the edge of loony-tune land. All I know is, it means you're dead." Green eyes lifted. "Do you know? You were in the army when it started, weren't you? What the fuck did they do to us?" 

"I'm sorry." Tom's fingers lifted to touch Alex's face, as if assuring himself that the other man was solid. If he'd intended to explain the difference between Harsh Realm and the real world to Alex, that would have been the moment to do it. Instead, Hobbes held the other still a moment, long enough to steal a kiss. "I don't know either." 

Accepting the evasion, like the 'virtual character' he was pretending to be, Alex shrugged. Reaching up to catch and hold Tom's hand, Krycek turned. "C'mon. You've got to meet the crew. You being here... it's going to change everything for us. I just know it." 

Hobbes was led down into the darkness of the basement. 

* * *

Vanishing for that brief time to secure Sophie's affections had backed up Inga's schedule. An elderly government man, who wasn't as important as he thought he was, had to be blown off. Taking five minutes she couldn't really spare, Inga ducked into the main computer control centre for Harsh Realm. 

Her favourite geek was a rabbit-like man with an exploitable fondness for blackjack. He was tucked away in his corner of the warren of half-walls staring at screen full of code. 

"Ethan." Inga leaned on the back of his chair. "Have you been following up on that little project I asked you to look at?" 

"Uh huh." Some thick, murky-brown drink was lifted and the programmer swallowed it down without moving his gaze from the constantly scrolling screen. 

"AND..." Inga prompted, "What have you seen?" 

"Oh, yeah." He tapped the monitor. "Subject A, the one you had inserted, has been constantly within the orbit of subject B. Your C figure has separated from the other two." Ethan's finger traced over the crowded screen. "Who the hell is B, Ms Fossa? He's rippling all the codes he touches. Have you got me monitoring Santiago?" 

"Questions aren't a healthy thing, Ethan." Inga straightened up with a pensive frown. "I need you to keep an eye on this." She turned his chair to assure herself that she had the man's attention. "I need to contact subject A... something non-invasive. You need to page me immediately the next time he cycles into a rest pattern." Inga captured Ethan's gaze. "Not part of the way through it, not ten minutes into it, the very first moment that you recognize a power-down on that character's code, I want to know about it. Understand?" 

"Yes'm." Ethan squirmed in his seat, fidgeting and shooting desperate glances at his equipment. "The very second. I've your pager number on speed dial." 

Not quite finished with him, Inga continued to lean into the man's space. "Can you tell how the time stream is running this week? Is Harsh Realm lagging or running fast?" 

"It was kicking along pretty fast this month, but then the game gradually slowed down to a near crawl over the last week. I think, I mean Potter suggested..." He gestured to the left. "He thinks there must be some massive troop movement happening." Ethan squirmed as Inga's frown deepened. "It's still about a year, three months and a few days ahead of us right now." 

"That's not what I want," Inga snapped in an exasperated tone. "How long has subject A been in contact with B... in Harsh Realm time?" 

"Oh..." His face wrinkled up. "Only about two days, Realm time." 

"And he's already separated them? Damn." Inga eased back, releasing the tech to return to his duties. Krycek was good, Inga knew that, but she hadn't expected him to be this fast. It had taken three times that long to get Sophie into bed. Admittedly Krycek only had one goal before him, while Inga had to continue her regular workload, but still, it was daunting how quickly he had taken Hobbes away from Michael. 

"Ethan!" She had to raise her voice to get his attention. "Subject C." Inga smiled. "Has he moved since A and B separated from him?" Michael might just be waiting for them to return from a side trip. 

"Um..." Fingers hit keys as Ethan attempted to find a pattern in the movement of that particular identifying code. "Yeah, he has. Oh, I see. He's tracing A and B's path." 

Relief washed through Inga. Her ex-husband was a pit-bull of a man. Krycek wasn't going to get Hobbes free that easily and the best part was that Alex likely didn't realize he wasn't succeeding. "Thank you, Ethan." Mind eased, Inga smoothed the line of her dress. "Call me when subject A cycles into sleep. I want to have a chat with him," she reminded the techie, before withdrawing from the cluttered cubical. 

Cool, dark eyes swept over the hive of computer operators as Inga tapped out of the aisle. If the time ever came that Harsh Realm was shut down, a few well-placed bombs would demolish this entire department, well, either that or poisoning the pizza and coffee. She wondered casually if anyone outside the project would even notice the mass extermination. 

* * *

A massive map was spread out on the floor. It was marked all over with red and green lines and symbols. The gathered rebels lounged all about the room. 

A slight redhead that Alex had identified as Megan, and then reverted to playfully calling 'Mommy' moments later, sat in the dead centre of the sprawling paper. "So which way are they coming in?" Megan looked about the dim room in expectation. 

"They're bringing in heavy equipment," a blond with a lap full of dismantled rifle parts offered. "Hummers. A tank or two, I think." 

"You THINK? Fuck Hunter!" Alex interrupted. "Do they or don't they have tanks? We've got to know. That would change everything." 

The young woman flipped a finger in Alex's direction. "You'd know if YOU'D done the recon, lover. We needed you days ago." 

Shooting a guilty glance in Tom's direction, Alex reached down to pull off his right boot. "I was busy." He twisted at the heel of his boot, yanking it off. The hollowed out shell was tipped and a small shower of glittering diamonds rained down on the corner of the map. "This should buy us some help." 

"If you know which direction they're coming in from..." Hobbes broke the silence that followed the revelation. "...You could booby trap the streets. Tanks need room, wide streets. There are only so many paths that the drivers would chose." 

Hobbes' voice got everyone's attention. He followed up by dropping to the floor and kneeling. Megan immediately backed off the map to give him a clear view. 

"The Republican Guard isn't going to use the highway." Tom pointed. "They're conquering as they come... setting up the fence, establishing supply lines. Their advance is going to be straightforward. They don't expect resistance." 

Megan nodded and offered up a black marker. "So give us a game plan, Lieutenant. You're the only pro soldier we've got." 

Looking about, Hobbes could see the truth in her words. Most of the sprawled figures were women, dressed in bits of cast-off army gear and leather. Of the two men, only one of them looked old enough to shave regularly. "I'm not sure." Tom frowned. These weren't the sort of people he wanted to throw against Santiago. 

"They're all excellent shots, love," Alex assured the crouching man. "Most can work explosives. Alison taught us." 

One of the older women in the room chuckled from her perch behind Megan. "And most of you took to the craft like you were born to it. Children love playing with firecrackers." 

"Tell us what we need to do and we'll do it." Emily, a dark-haired imp of a girl bared her teeth in a grin. 

"This isn't some game." The irony of saying that was painful, but these were all VC characters, as near as he could tell. This was the only life they knew. "Some of you might die." Hobbes reached down to touch the pile of diamonds that Alex had provided. "Are there mercenaries we can hire?" 

"Some." Alison leaned forward, one hand pushing her hair back out of her eyes. "But we shouldn't put hired help in key positions. Tell us what you've got in mind. We'll let you know if we pull it off or not." 

"We've lost our homes and families to this thing, Lieutenant," the older of the two guys cut in. "Draw us a line and let us try to hold it. Those bastards have pushed us far enough." 

"Easy Tony," Megan soothed. "We can always withdraw further and try again if it doesn't work. We're not idiots, Lieutenant Hobbes. We know our limits." 

"Tom." 

"Tom," Megan repeated. "Give us what you've got, and we'll take a shot... and give us a retreat plan too. Even if it doesn't work here we'll make the Guard earn every mile between here and Florida." 

"Tom is 'the one'," Alex announced. "Sooner or later we'll win, now he's with us." The confidence in the room was so powerful, it was almost tactile. 

* * *

Inga refused to run. Even though time was pressing, she wouldn't show that kind of weakness in front of the medical personnel or anyone else. It was bad enough that these people were aware that she would invariably pause at Mike Pinocchio's side and briefly touch his short-cropped curls. 

Once she had control of Krycek, she intended one of his first missions to be the trapping of one of those hybrid healers she'd heard rumours about. Marita had hinted that Krycek had a finger in that pie. He'd know where to find the miracle worker. Inga felt sick every time she saw the ruin that used to be her handsome husband. It wasn't right that such a damaged shell would be Michael's reward at the game's end. 

Gurney upon gurney still barred Inga's path. She stepped away from Michael's comatose form and set to threading her way through the vast storehouse of still, sheet-covered forms. Krycek wouldn't allow his unprotected body to lie out with the rest of the soldiers that had been sent into the Realm. He was behind a locked door for which only she and one of the doctors had the security code. 

The visit was only going to be a brief skimming at the edge of the system. Inga couldn't afford the time that it would take to be properly scanned in and hooked up to the computers, and besides, she didn't want to use any of her usual arrival points in the Realm or risk her virtual self unnecessarily. 

Inside Krycek's room sat a wheelchair, and the equipment that Inga would need to plug into the assassin's dreaming mind. 

A vicious thought teased across Inga's mind. Having the doctor castrate Krycek while he was plugged into the computer would be a sweet trick, but then Inga wouldn't have his full repertoire of skills at her disposal when she won the bet. 

Inga studied the unconscious spy. Lifting the sheet revealed his maimed arm stump. Strange that he hadn't persuaded one of the half-alien healers to re-grow the missing limb. She hoped the task wasn't beyond the hybrids. Repairing the ruin that the land mine had made of Michael's face wasn't enough. She wanted to gift her former husband with his leg as well. His gratitude would be multiplied immeasurably if Inga could do that. 

Sighing, Inga replaced the cover. Sinking into the waiting wheelchair, she picked up the VR headgear that the doctor had set out after she'd phoned him. This method of entering the Realm was much cruder than the normal pathway. A moment or two of disorientation followed the settling of the visual bar over her eyes. It increased drastically as the headphones were clamped on. Inga had only used this particular equipment with one other person, her former spy in the Indian coalition. The subject whose dream this gear allowed her to invade would be all too aware of the intrusion, so it couldn't be used to spy on just anyone. Besides which, Inga normally preferred to use her full virtual character to interact with the Realm personnel, so she wouldn't have to betray the fact that she slipped in and out of the game at will. 

Alex's current dreamscape was a complete surprise. A version of Krycek that couldn't have been more than twelve years old sat on a lichen-covered rock in the centre of an ocean of thick red liquid. The boy image of Krycek was almost in tears as he attempted to fit together some kind of sphere-shaped puzzle but the pieces kept slipping through his fingers. 

"KRYCEK!" Inga stood on the bloody ocean, untouched by the surrounding scene. "Get a grip. I need to talk to you." 

"Fossa? I'm busy. What do you want?" Alex's mouth pushed into a frown. He flung the device away in a fury, making a distant splash. "Ebat!" His attention wandered. When another sphere appeared in his hands, Krycek glared and threw it away as well. "I'm dreaming." 

"Yes." Inga swallowed a smile as the puzzle disc popped into existence yet again. "Pay attention to me. This will all go away." 

Green eyes locked onto Inga. The scene greyed out, and Alex's form matured before her. Misty shadows of a bedroom replaced the other scene. Tom Hobbes sprawled on the mattress that Krycek sat on. Alex seemed upset for a second, but his expression smoothed out quickly, and he fell into an artistic lounge. 

"I wanted a progress report from you." Inga gazed at the faint image of Hobbes rather than at Krycek, who was sitting naked before her. Hobbes was thinner than she remembered. His hair was shaggy and sticking up in odd directions. He also needed a shave. "Where is Pinocchio?" There was no reason to let Krycek know what she knew. 

"We already left him with that VC healer he's gotten so fond of. I haven't seen him since. I'm not expecting to see him again. I am the master, after all," Krycek bragged, touching Hobbes curiously. He smiled when his fingers passed through the other man. "Freaky toy you're using, Fossa." Alex looked up. "I just need a little time to tie Tom to this resistance cell before you pull me out. Hobbes will keep fighting like you wanted. So unless your ex comes calling, which I doubt, that'll fill the terms of my side. What about you, Fossa? Have you even got a kiss out of weepy Sophie yet?" His laugh was sharp. Alex didn't realize the time difference. He was assuming only two days had passed outside the game as well. 

"I woke up with her this morning," Inga announced smugly. 

"I'm gonna need to survail you when I get out, Fossa. I'll want to see for myself." His expression skirted the edge of a pout. "And remember... she has to fall in love with you, not just screw around with you." 

"Whatever you need." Inga continued to study Hobbes, not wanting to meet Krycek's eye and betray any of her inside knowledge. 

"Tommy baby's not going to even twitch, Fossa." Krycek misunderstood her fascination and tried to taunt her. "The boy got off twice. He's wasted." Alex ran ghostly fingers over his lover. "He's got potential. His legs were spreading, and his hips wouldn't stay down when I was blowing him tonight. I touched his hole, and he whined like a bitch in heat." Krycek's amusement increased as Inga's expression tightened into disgust. "The boy wants me to fuck him. He just doesn't know how to ask for it. Damn, he's a hot one once he's turned on." Alex watched her face avidly. 

Inga's upper lip curled. "I don't want to know, Krycek." 

"I got him away from your ex just in time, Fossa. Hobbes is a natural slut. He was just waiting for someone to take him in hand. Tommy boy wanted your Mikey to plug him. I could tell by the way Hobbes panted after your ex's heels. Another few weeks, and those two would've fallen into it somehow." His tone was vicious, baiting her. 

Inga's temper got the better of her, and she yanked at the gear she knew would be on her head. Krycek's dreamscape vanished. 

There was no way that she was losing this bet now. Whatever it took, she'd bind Sophie to her. 

* * *

It was a bit of a gamble, but Krycek needed to know how Tom would function without him hovering nearby, so the soldier was sent out with two of the women at dawn. Hawk was among the better fighters in the crew, so she should impress Tom, and Emily was cute enough to suck Tom into wanting to take care of her. 

Krycek continued to sweet-talk Megan and with some effort, he earned himself Hunter as his partner for the day. 

The possibility still existed that Hobbes would want to return to Pinocchio and Florence. Best-case scenario, it would only be to collect his damned dog. Worst case, Tom would try to bring the two of them into the group. Alex needed to ensure that Pinocchio, his VC sidekick, and the fucking mutt were gone, so Tom would feel deserted if he did go after them. 

Hunter, as expected, knew just where to lay her hands on a car. She had them to the edge of the city in no time flat. They parked a distance from where Alex had last seen the Chevelle and climbed out. 

"I need a wide spiral." Krycek looked about the area. "I'm trying to find a man, a woman and a dog. They've a black muscle car... and they'll be wary of anyone approaching them, so don't." 

Hunter checked her pistol. "This ain't about the Guard, is it sweetheart?" The slight blonde frowned up at him. 

Krycek shrugged. "It's about making sure that 'the one' stays with the people who need him." 

A faintly mischievous smile from Alex earned an indulgent sigh from the small woman. "I spoil you shamelessly. You owe me." 

"I'm your servant, Hunter baby." Alex led the way. 

The car wasn't too hard to find. It was off the road and cloaked in branches. Unfortunately, it was empty and covered in dew from a night spent in cooling weather. 

"Damn it!" Krycek's foot impacted on the driver's door making Hunter yelp out a protest. A self-confessed car-whore, she was practically drooling over the fucking thing. 

"Can I take it?" Hunter whipped out a slim tool. "Give me ten minutes and I'll have this baby opened up and purring like a kitten." 

"No," he snapped more harshly than intended. "The owners will be back for it." Krycek frowned. Or maybe not. Fossa said he couldn't touch Pinocchio, but if one of the girls, say Hunter, took the bastard out, it wouldn't void his win. Besides, he was still pissed off at Inga. She had no right to come poking around in his head while he was asleep. Watching her face crack when she found out that her precious Michael was dead would be a salve to his pride. "We've got to find them, Hunter. They'll fuck everything up. They'll take Hobbes off into the wilderness again to sit on his hands. We need Tom here... fighting." 

Eyes narrowed suspiciously. "That line stinks like an old latrine, Alex. What's going on? Are you just trying to get rid of Hobbes' old girlfriend or something?" 

"Please, Hunter." Alex trailed a hand down her arm. "They've both got to go, one way or another. Please, lover. I'll never ask for another thing if you do this for me." 

"Without telling Tom?" she guessed. 

Krycek's brows lifted. "I'll take out the woman if you get the guy." He leaned in, nuzzling at the side of her face. "C'mon Hunter baby. This is important. I swear I'll make it worth your while. It's not like they're civilians. It'll be a fair shoot." 

"If Tom or Megan finds out we took out bystanders, I'm not taking any of the heat. It was all your idea." The blonde grimaced and eased back. "Which way?" 

* * *

Yet another advantage to working with the military was the ease with which Inga could obtain biological contaminants. After careful consideration, she chose a rather lightweight flu bug and dispatched someone to infect Sophie. It was only the matter of a day before she could step in. 

Inoculated against the virus, Inga appeared at Sophie's doorstep laden with five-star restaurant-made broth in a thermos, tissues, flowers, VCR tapes, and a handmade quilt that had cost her eight hundred dollars. 

Within an hour Sophie was snuggled down on the couch watching 'Beauty and the Beast'. Inga spoke softly of her grandmother's secret soup recipe, and how she had helped to sew the last few squares into the quilt on a rainy day when she was ten years old. Sophie, of course, ate the lies up just as eagerly as she did the broth. Slightly hazed blue eyes gazed up at Inga as if the dark-haired woman knew the secrets of the universe. 

As if by accident, Inga picked up a few pages of notes that Sophie had left on the table. In small tidy script were passages about the children that passed through the base library. "This is just perfect." The sheets rustled in Inga's grip. "We get cold, dry studies all the time but this... you've given faces to the problem. Thank you, Sophie. Promise me the final report will be just as heartfelt, and I know everyone will be astounded." Well, they would be if Inga ever bothered to show it to the men who made policy. It was far too sentimental sounding even to consider doing more than shredding the information. "You simply must do a bit more work for us. I'll have a cheque written up for you, to help cover your effort... though money won't do this justice." 

Sophie's face blushed an even deeper red than her fever had induced. "T'ank you, Inga. I really could use 'da money to pay somb bills." Her stuffed nose made it difficult to understand her. Realizing how she sounded, Sophie hid behind a tissue in embarrassment. "You're too gud to me." 

"Darling... I only wish I could do more." Kneeling down by the blonde, Inga patted at the quilt in the general area of Sophie's leg. What surprised Inga the most was that she didn't have to push herself to look up at Sophie with affection, despite the woman's less than pleasant appearance. This was too harsh a method of insinuating herself into Sophie's life, Inga decided. She would make sure the cure was in the next mug of soup. "I'm sorry." 

The apology caught them both by surprise. Inga couldn't believe she'd actually said such a thing, and Sophie didn't understand why she'd voiced it. Telling herself that she was covering for the misspoken words, Inga shifted up so she could gather the other woman into her arms. Damp gold hair was petted gently. "We've got to take better care of you." Inga included herself purposefully. "Once you're well again... I'm going to lay you down and kiss you until you can't think straight." A brush of lips on the top of Sophie's head emphasised the promise. 

"Oh Inga. You're acting like my personal nurse? You're spoiling me." Bonelessly, Sophie rested against her new lover. "I don't know what I'd do without you. You're wonderful." 

It was the bet; Inga reminded herself sternly to halt the spike of emotion that Sophie's heartfelt announcement caused. This was all to win the bet. "Shush. Rest." Making herself comfortable on the sofa, Inga drew Sophie close, so the blonde lay against her chest. 

* * *

Flat on their stomachs and gazing down from the roof, Hunter and Krycek overlooked another pair doing almost the exact same thing. Below them, hunkered down in the rubble, Pinocchio and Florence peered out at the street. Dexter sat between them, tail wagging, and tongue hanging out one side of his mouth. 

With a solemn sideways look at Hunter, Alex took aim at the back of Florence's head. 

"Not yet." Hunter scowled, pushing at his gun then scrambling backwards. "I want to get closer first," she whispered softly. 

Alex had to run to keep up with Hunter, as she slipped into a door and practically flew down a set of stairs. Despite their heavy boots, both of them moved quietly. 

"We're not going to get a second chance," Alex's hissed, fearful of being overheard. "If we don't get them at first look, they'll take us out, Hunter. They're pros." They slowed as they approached the ground level exit. "Hunter, please." Krycek caught at her arm. "Have I ever steered any of you wrong?" 

Her delicate features crinkled up into a scowl. "Never, but there's something about you Alex. There always has been." Hunter studied her companion. "You know I adore you, handsome, but I'm not a fool. I've never been sure you're fighting the same war as the rest of us." 

Damn, damn, damn. Alex cursed himself for giving the characters he'd wanted to use TOO much of their inspirations' original personalities but he'd needed people who could interact with Hobbes at every level, not just cardboard cut-outs. They were after all, supposed to become Tom's army once he, himself, had withdrawn from the game. "Hunter, baby..." Krycek leaned in close. "This is important. These were the people keeping Tom out in the wilderness... out of battle. We need him here, where's he's going to do some good. If they get to Tom we'll lose him again, lose the war. Trust me, baby. I brought 'the one' to us, but you have to help if we're going to keep him." 

"I've heard a coupla versions of the legend, Alex." Hunter caught his green eyes and held them. It's said by some that 'the one' is supposed to be part of a trinity, with a warrior and a healer." Hunter's hand rested on Alex's shoulder. "Don't fuck with me, Krycek, not over this. Are these two the warrior and the healer?" 

"The other parts of the trinity aren't set in stone," he argued. "For all we know it could mean Tony and Azar, love. He's a fighter and she does medic-duty. Or maybe it means me and Megan. Both those terms can be applied so broadly. Trust me, Hunter, I know what I'm doing." 

"I believe you do, darling." She petted him. "But maybe I don't want the same things as you." Spinning abruptly, Hunter kicked open the door that would put them at their targets' backs but, instead of aiming, she raised both her hands. 

Alex cursed in more than one language, and dropped low with his own weapon trained on Pinocchio. If the son of bitch shot Hunter at least he'd have a defensible reason for killing the bastard. 

Florence and Pinocchio spun around, guns ready. They started out wary enough but as soon as Mike caught sight of Alex crouching near the floor his expression altered to complete hatred, and his aim tracked downward from Hunter. "You." Pinocchio's lips pulled into a snarl. "What the fuck have you done with Hobbes?" 

Realizing how high the level of hostility was, Hunter moved in front of Alex, protecting him from the soldier's malice. "Tom is fine. He's out on a patrol with some friends." The slight blonde cautiously lowered her weapon to a more natural position. "I'm Hunter." She had to angle her body as Pinocchio shifted to the left, attempting to get a bead on Alex. "If you want... I can take you to Tom." It was Hunter's turn to scowl, as she needed to move yet again to block the man's aim. "But not if you hurt Alex." 

"I'm not going to hurt him, I'm going to fucking kill him," Pinocchio growled. 

"I told you." Alex's whisper brushed right at Hunter's ear. "It's not too late, lover. Do the son of a bitch." 

Florence was the one to move this time, planting herself firmly in front of Mike over his objections. A glare from the healer silenced Pinocchio's mumbled threats, and Florence's eyes turned back to Hunter. Making a definite show of the action, Florence lowered her gun and took her hands away, so the weapon hung from its strap over her shoulder. Hands lifted, palm outward, and arched eyebrows raised in inquiry. 

"Take us to Hobbes." Pinocchio didn't release his gun, but that was balanced by the fact that Alex was still ready to shoot as well. 

* * *

Hunter was cautious enough not to take Pinocchio and Florence back to their headquarters, but it didn't look as if her reserve was going to last very long. Within five minutes of meeting him, Hunter was all but opening her shirt and offering Pinocchio a bite, and Mike seemed to have suddenly developed a charming side that almost explained what Inga saw in the bastard. 

It was written for all to see in the way the two of them were starting to smoulder at each other... Hunter was going to bring Pinocchio into the cell no matter how much Alex might rail about his untrustworthiness. There was no way Krycek was going to be able to keep Hobbes and Pinocchio separated if things continued on the way they were going, so it was time to upset the playing field again. Alex was just going to have to stop Tom from returning to the unit, which was a task he'd made no plans for. 

The healer frowned and jabbed Pinocchio in the ribs when Alex headed for the door to the shelter they were waiting in. A mechanical noise suggested that weapons were shifting. 

"Where the crap do you think you're going?" Mike's growl halted Alex in place. 

"I'm going to take a piss," Krycek looked over his shoulder. "I'd offer to let watch but something tells me you'd rather watch Hunter drop her drawers than me." Not giving them any time to argue, Alex slipped outside. Likely, if it were just him alone one of them would have come out to make sure he stayed put, but with Hunter serving as a hostage/hostess there wasn't any need. Whatever the reason, Alex didn't waste a second. He broke into a run as soon as he was clear, off in the direction Hobbes had been sent with two of the other women. 

It took almost too long to locate Tom, Hawk and Emily. The three of them were on the way back to headquarters when Alex finally managed to find and intercept them. 

"Things are looking deadly, Alex." Hawk launched into the warning as soon as she saw him. "Troop movement. They're on the edge of the city. We've got to mobilize everything we've got a-sap." 

"Tell Megan." Alex caught at Tom's arm and pushed him back a couple of steps. "I need to talk to you, right now." 

"Alex... we've no time for..." Em's attempted touch was knocked away by Alex without him even looking in her direction. 

"Go report to Megan. Tom's going to show me where they're massing." Krycek met and held Hobbes' gaze. "Please Tom. You can give me the rundown, while they tell the others. Please." 

Hobbes frowned at the intensity he heard in his lover's tone. "It's okay. You two brief everyone and start things rolling. I'll just take Alex over to that outlook we were at last, and then I'll be right back. One of us watching them might be good idea." Letting Krycek's persistent pushing turn him in place, Tom retraced the path he'd just taken. 

"What's going on, Alex?" They were only a few blocks over from where Krycek had intersected him and the women, when Tom dug in his heels and refused to allow Alex to drag him any further. "You're acting... odd." 

Krycek grimaced and tugged until Tom joined him in the cover of musty alleyway. "The cell been infiltrated, Tom. It's not safe for you there anymore." The story wasn't completely formed within Alex's mind yet, but he was going to have to spring it and work out the details as the lie spun out. "We need to skirt the edge of Santiago's forces, pick up some gear and get the hell out of here." 

"WHAT! No." Tom's blond head started to shake. "Where's the problem. We need to tell them, so we can fix it," he argued. "Em and Hawk are taking in vital information. Why didn't you tell them too? Jeez Alex, c'mon." Tom tried to pull away only to find his body suddenly trapped between cold concrete and Krycek's hot frame. 

"No," Alex argued softly. "You're the problem, love. You've been ratted out. If you go back there everything will cave in on top of them. As long as you're out here... out of reach... they're safe and still able to operate. We have to get you away from here for your own safety and to prevent the Guard from coming down on the crew like a ton of bricks." Alex's thumb traced down the side of Tom's face and over his pale lips. "If anything were to happen to you, I'd die, Tom. I love you. Please, trust me on this." Krycek's mouth closed over Tom's to prevent an immediate argument. With only a little pressure Hobbes' lips parted, and the intensity of the kiss increased until both of them were shivering. 

Alex face shifted, breaking the lip-lock. His eyes lowered, and his fingers seized material. "Need you. Need you more than anything, more than life." Krycek almost tore Hobbes' pants in his hurry to get his lover's fly open. 

"God Alex." Tom's hands dug into Alex's shoulders, caught between pushing and pulling. "Stop. We don't have time for this." 

"We could die... getting away. I need this first." Alex shoved fabric away, baring Tom's erection, then frantically got the front of his own pants opened. "Please Tom. If we die I want to go out with the scent of you on me." As soon as he had exposed himself, Alex pressed tight once more, trapping his own right hand and their cocks between their bodies. "I love you. I love you so much, Tom." 

Another kiss was pressed on Hobbes. Teeth clacked together at the fury of the contact. Alex's free hand wormed between Tom and the wall, and then down into the back of Hobbes' sagging trousers. The touch of cool fingers edging between the cheeks of his ass made Tom shudder and suck hard at Alex's tongue. 

Knees bending and straightening, Krycek ground himself against his lover. He couldn't really masturbate Tom properly, but this kind of desperate rubbing of skin on skin had its own attractions. It was almost painful but pre-come leaked from both of them making things slicker and messier. 

Tom was groaning into their kiss and clutching, one hand fisting in Alex's hair and the other wrapped around him. Both men's breathing was erratic and strained, rasping through their noses, because their mouths wouldn't separate. 

When Alex's body allowed the gap between them to widen briefly Tom moaned and bowed out to close it once more, but the shift wasn't fast enough to prevent Krycek from changing hands. A pained whimper indicated what Hobbes thought of the sudden chill wrapped around their cocks but the noise morphed into a thick groan of arousal as Alex's sopping fingers pressed between Tom's butt-cheeks and brushed his entrance. A single finger pierced him. 

Hobbes arched violently. His head fell back, breaking their kiss. "OH FUCK!" 

"Would you let me? Please, Tom please." Alex nuzzled at Tom's jaw, almost biting. "You're so beautiful. I love you so much. Tom. Lover." Krycek wiggled his forefinger carefully trying to get past the knuckle. "If I could come inside you just once... please, Tom. Oh God, please." He jacked his lover carefully, not giving enough for Tom to get off on but just keeping up the tension. 

"God, Alex. I don't know... here? We can't." Hobbes shivered, then jerked in place pushing himself further back onto Krycek's finger. "Anywhere else..." 

"There is nowhere else... nothing else. This might be all we ever have, love. This might be the last time." Alex's grinding took on a slight angle, the movement inched Tom's pants down while he continued to slide their erections together. His finger turned in place working at Hobbes' hellishly tight asshole. "I love you, Tom. I love you so much. You don't have to love me back. I don't care. It doesn't matter. I just need to be with you... however I can. However you'll let me." Alex dragged his mouth over Tom's cheek to huff hot breath in the other man's ear. 

Lifting his leg was awkward, but the action was quickly done. Alex dragged the inside of his leg against the outside of Tom's making his lover's pants inch down a little further. The hand on their cocks flitted away for a few seconds to caress Tom's balls and shove at Hobbes' underwear since it was harder to budge. 

It wasn't enough. "Please Tom," Alex whispered into the curve of Hobbes' ear before beginning to ease downward. 

That Tom let out a noise flavoured with loss when Alex's finger pulled out of his body was a good sign. Dropping steadily and kissing his way down Hobbes' body, Alex ended up on his knees before his lover. Nibbling at Tom's shaft, Alex's hands peeled Hobbes' underwear and pants down to the blond's ankles. 

Krycek spat everything he could at his fingers before drawing Tom's balls into his mouth and sucking gently. Reaching between Tom's legs was simpler than going around. His finger slipped in a bit easier this time. The second was harder to manage but generous amounts of saliva helped. 

Hips rocking in eagerness, Hobbes was running his hands through Krycek's dark hair and giving voice to a wide range of whimpers and moans. Alex, tongue out, made his way back up to swallow Tom's dripping cock. He didn't suck, but just held the throbbing shaft in his mouth while he worked more saliva into Tom. 

"Alex, please." Tom was panting. 

Pulling off and out, Alex rose back up to nip at Tom's lips. "Turn around, lover. You'll like it, I promise." 

Tom swallowed nervously, eyes closed. He shivered one more time then slowly moved to present his back to Krycek. Hobbes' palms hit the wall, instinctively dropping into a pose that would support him. 

"Oh God, lover. Thank you. Thank you." Time wasn't to be wasted. Both the Republican Guard and goddamned Pinocchio loomed as threats. Reaching around to stroke Tom's cock and keep him distracted, Alex settled his cock-head against the carefully loosened pucker and pushed gently. 

The strangled noise that Tom let out was a strange combination of pain and arousal that was all too familiar to Alex. He'd made it himself more times than he cared to recall. "It's all right. It's okay." Krycek worked at Tom's shaft to keep it from wilting in reaction to the penetration. He nipped and nuzzled at his lover's ear and the back of his neck. Alex had to go slowly, inching in amid gasps from both of them. "It'll get better, just hang on." 

"Alex... it's... I thought... Alex... stop. Just give a second." Tom's breath hitched. 

"I know." Sucking at the skin on Tom's shoulder, Alex's fingers skittered skilfully over still slippery skin, rousing Hobbes' cock back up. "Virgin angel. Sweet darling. You feel like nothing on earth. This is incredible. You're incredible, lover. Your mouth was so hot, a revelation... but I've never felt anything this perfect before. Thank you. My God, I love you, Tom." Moving with infinite care, Alex withdrew just a tiny bit, and angling, pushed back in just a little deeper. 

"AH!" Tom shuddered in response but his erection didn't wane in the least. 

Slowly Alex built on the action, getting a little deeper each time, until he hit just the right spot with his cock. Tom practically gave off sparks; his reaction was so electrical. After that it only got easier. Hobbes shuddered and moaned, bucking between Alex's thrusts and his stroking hand. 

"I wish that this was all there was," Krycek murmured in a sizzling, silky tone. "You and me alone... safe... fucking each other until we couldn't move." Lost in the thrill of what they were doing, Alex actually meant what he said right there and then. "Hot, sweet lover." Alex's hand sped as his hips began to move faster. It felt like he was holding a piece of rock, Tom was so hard. 

Hobbes trembled. "Oh Alex. Please." His arms collapsed at the elbow, and he was barely holding himself back from the roughness of the wall. His legs were shaking badly. 

"Come lover. Give it up. You're close. Let me feel it. Remember how it felt when I shot while you were fucking me. How my body clamped down around your delicious cock. Give me that. Come for me." Alex thrust almost brutally now, but Tom's body took the jolts and delighted in them. 

The erotic patter poured into Tom's ear like hot oil. Blasts of sensation were shooting up from where Alex was pounding into him, and his cock felt like it was on fire. Letting out a thin wail, Tom's body began to spasm. 

Alex grunted, biting down on Hobbes' shoulder. Tom was going to collapse soon; he knew that. Wallowing in the realization he'd taken this beautiful blond's cherry, Alex wrapped his arm around Tom to hold him up just a few moments longer and let himself go. 

They sagged, Hobbes trapped between the wall and Alex, but protected from the harsh surface by one of Krycek's arms. Tom's mouth opened with the intension of speaking but nothing but mindless panting escaped. 

"I love you, Tom. Nothing matters more than you." Krycek's voice was soft. "We'll get you out of here. Get you somewhere safer." The kid really was a sweet treat. It was a shame that this liaison was only a temporary distraction. Alex wouldn't mind spending a great deal more time on Tom Hobbes. 

"I can't..." Move. "...leave," Hobbes substituted. "It wouldn't be fair." 

"You dying wouldn't be fair. I need you, Tom. The whole world needs you. I love you," Alex persisted. "Just come away with me for a little while, just until I can make things safe for you again. They've got your plans to work from. Please, Tom. Trust me this one time. Come away with me." 

Sighing, Hobbes struggled upright. Alex's arms released him immediately. Bending down to grab at his pants made Tom wince in reaction. "I won't leave the city." The implied concession was that he would give into Alex's wishes and hold back from the group. 

"Thank you. It'll have to be enough," Krycek allowed. It was a start. He'd worry about getting Tom even further away later. 

* * *

Normally Inga didn't venture much beyond Government house when she was inside Harsh Realm. Leaving the safety of Santiago City was almost unheard of where she was concerned. This, however, was a very special circumstance. It wouldn't be safe to leave capturing Alex to anyone else. With a few wrong words he could ruin her relationship with Waters or General Santiago, and Alex might just be in a vindictive enough mood to try it. 

Inga's rare excursion didn't go unnoticed by the men she was attempting to manipulate. The bodyguard that the General had assigned to her was likely reporting Inga's every move back to Santiago. She couldn't complain too much however; the General had graciously provided a squad of twelve men to help her with this project, despite the fact Inga had only explained it in the vaguest terms. 

Having the group search as a unit would have been more secure, but completely ineffective. Inga had decided to scatter the twelve men throughout the forces that were marching south to ask questions and, hopefully, get a lead on where Krycek might be. Alex had promised that Hobbes would keep fighting so the pair of them should be in the army's path. If Alex was confident that he had separated Hobbes from Michael, then the spy should be eagerly awaiting Inga's agents. 

Inga had settled herself in the back seat of a small van and was making every attempt to appear engrossed with the thick sheaf of papers on her lap. Her attention, however, strained to hear all the information feeding through the two radios in the front of the vehicle. One set was tuned to the frequency that the Republican Guard was using at this moment. The other radio was set to transmit the communications of her assigned force. 

"Another large group of captives are being processed in Sector 62-E, Ma'am," Her driver/bodyguard relayed the information, suggesting that her illusion of mild disinterest was effective. 

"Thank you, Corporal." Inga lifted her eyes to gaze out the window. "But I rather expect Mr Krycek will be taken alone or with a small group rather than with a bunch of squatters." She sat aside her paperwork. "I'd like you to drive toward a zone with minimal civilian captures and a high concentration of guerrilla resistance." 

The soldier's face screwed up but he made no attempt to argue. "Yes Ma'am. Perhaps closer to 60-A, Ma'am?" 

"65-A to C," Inga corrected blandly, and then leaned back to resume her perusal of the file. 

* * *

When they finally got moving again, Alex was rather annoyed to discover advance scouts for the Republican Guard were already crawling about the city. Three times he and Hobbes had to duck into shelter and wait out the passing of uniformed men. 

"We've got to move further south," Krycek whispered into Tom's ear as they crouched behind yet another pile of rubble to avoid a pair of soldiers. 

Hobbes frowned. "What we should do is warn the others. The Guard is moving much faster than we expected." 

"You promised." Alex caught at Tom's sleeve and pulled him even closer to the ground. Their voices were bare hisses, both of them fearful of being overheard. 

"I'm not doing any good... cowering here..." Muscles twitching, Tom inched over so he could peer around the half wall behind which they knelt. 

"Fine." Alex tugged in the opposite direction. "You want to do some good. Let's go officer hunting." That was an activity best suited to one or two people rather than a whole resistance group. 

Briefly, a scandalized expression marked Tom's face, but it quickly hardened back to a more impassive mask. "How?" 

"We need some rifles, long range stuff." Krycek dared a glance around their cover. "Fuck soldiering. We assassinate from a distance, then get the fuck out of there. My aim is up to it. Is yours?" 

Swallowing, Hobbes nodded once, an overly jerky movement. "Let's do it." 

* * *

At first the reports of sniper fire were just one more thing that streamed past Inga's consciousness. It quickly became clear however that the snipers were picking off officers with very few wasted shots or regular soldiers going down. It had to be either Krycek or perhaps Michael. All the proper soldiers had run from Wilmington by now. Santiago had made no secret of the fact that he was coming. 

Papers were shoved aside, and Inga snapped out orders for all the men she'd been assigned to go there and capture the snipers at any cost. The sector was a mess. Order was strained, and the men were without direction. 

By the time Inga's driver got them close the attacks had moved west of where they had started. 

* * *

Alex dropped down into a crouch beside Tom. He grinned, his breath gusting out from between bared teeth. The look of surprise on Hobbes' lovely face made Alex smile even wider. 

Tom's hand lifted to his lover's cheekbone, brushing at some blood from the soldier that they'd taken the first rifle from. "Who are you?" A definite tone of wonder threaded through Hobbes' voice. 

"I'm the man who'll do anything to keep you safe and at my side," Alex began arrogantly. "I'm your own private guardian angel, Thomas Hobbes." 

Tom's frown cut deeper, and he touched a finger to the gun Alex held. "You're not... I know a soldier when I see one, Alex." His eyes searched Alex's face. 

Krycek flinched back. "I'm not a soldier." 

"You've had training," Tom persisted. "What were you before the bomb, Alex? You're some kind of warrior." 

His choice of words made Alex scuttle backwards, green eyes wide. Krycek had been joking around when he'd suggested to Hunter that he, himself, could be 'the warrior' from the prophecy but suddenly the idea was no longer a jest. 

"What is it, Alex?" 

The warrior was supposed to sacrifice himself for 'the one'. Krycek shook his head, banishing the odd flight of fancy. His only partner in this was Inga, and she was no kind of healer. 

"We need to move again." Alex, for reasons he didn't quite understand, pushed up to steal a kiss from Tom before climbing to his feet. The kid had a delicious mouth. "C'mon." 

"You can tell me anything, Alex." Hobbes sighed, eyes closing momentarily. He then stood, reaching up to thread his fingers into Alex's dark hair. "I care about you." 

Surprisingly enough, the cautious declaration didn't send the rush of triumph through Alex that he'd expected it would. He turned his face to kiss the inside of Tom's wrist. "I care about you too." The whisper was barely audible. Strange, if he was going to stay in character, then the moment should have prompted another ardent avowal of love, but those particular words just seemed to flow more naturally out of him. Frowning to himself, Krycek shook his head to clear it. "We have to move." 

"You will tell me," Tom persisted. "Sooner or later." He released his lover. 

* * *

Inga left the safety of her vehicle with great care and some reluctance. If it wasn't Krycek out there taking pot shots at the command staff, then she was going to be a primary target as soon as she emerged. The up side of the sniper assassinations was that Inga had no trouble taking command and issuing instructions. 

"Forget about advancing right now. Hold the line you have and put everyone you can spare on the job of bring those shooters in." Inga waved a dismissive hand in the direction of the Sergeant who was questioning her. A burst of automatic weapons' fire in the distance suggested something was happening. 

"I want him alive." Inga raised her voice. She pinned her driver with a cold look. "The General said he was giving me some of the best soldiers in his army. Prove it to me. Catch them, or I will make your life very difficult." 

"Yes Ma'am." The driver snapped out the acknowledgement and then turned his attention to the radio that connected Inga's assigned squad. 

* * *

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Alex dragged Tom up a fire escape, muttering under his laboured breathing. Everything had been working fine. They'd put this section of the Guard into a lovely state of disarray then a van had arrived and suddenly Alex and Tom were in a defensive position instead. The goon who'd jumped out at them a few minutes ago wore the markings of Santiago's elite. 

"We're surrounded." Tom ducked into an open window right behind Alex. Every time they'd tried to run they'd found soldiers in their way. 

"I don't know." Krycek trained his rifle sight back in the direction of the main force, using it like a telescope rather than aiming. Moving too quickly, he almost missed her, but Inga's skirt set her apart from all the soldiers clustered about. He could shoot her but that would trap him inside this game, and Alex still had other things he needed to do with his life. 

If she was in the field, it should mean that Inga was ready to bring him out. It was insane. There was no way that she could have subverted Sophie so quickly. Not that it mattered. Alex wasn't ready. If he cut Tom loose right now, the blond would be back with Pinocchio within days, if not hours. They had to get out of here, together. 

* * *

It finally happened like some cyberpunk re-write of an old western showdown. Alex and Tom were trying to slink their way past a bunch of recruiting poster types, when most of a small townhouse exploded not far down the street. 

While the guard were still reorienting, Tony and Hawk burst out of another building, guns blazing. Tom, of course, popped up immediately to add his ammo to the mix. 

"HOBBES! THIS WAY!" 

There was no mistaking that bellow for anyone else's. Pinocchio had spotted them. 

More gunfire swung Alex around. One of the soldiers had a clear line of fire and looked about ready to take Tom out. 

"TOM! DOWN!" Krycek shouted the warning as he dove across a divide to take his own shot at the man aiming at Hobbes. 

The blue static flash of the soldier rezzing out was quickly followed by intense pain in the back of Alex's head and reddish white fireworks going off behind Krycek's eyes. 

* * *

"Alive is good." Inga gazed down at Krycek's limp, bound form. "But he's not much use to me if his brain is scrambled." The massive bump on the back of Krycek's head wasn't visible through his hair but she'd felt it.

The soldier who had brought Alex in glowered but held his tongue about the losses they'd taken capturing her prisoner alive. 

"Depending on how well he did his job... there might be a rescue attempt in the works right now. Get me transportation. Something more secure than that van. I want to leave at once." 

"Yes Ma'am." He saluted smartly and whirled about to do her bidding. 

Walking over to the battered couch that Alex was trussed up upon, Inga knelt. "Are you awake, Krycek?" It was impossible to tell. 

"I don't recall agreeing to a time limit?" His voice was low and gritty. Alex's eyes stayed closed. 

"I'm done." 

"It wasn't a race." 

"I've other work to do, Krycek. So do you. Three weeks have gone by. People are looking for you," Inga informed him. "Marita says she can't cover for you any longer. You have to come out or your projects will suffer." 

A slit of green fire appeared between heavy lashes. Alex growled, "Liar. It's only been a few days." 

"I warned you that time ran differently inside the game. It's just your bad luck that it's run slowly lately. We're done, Krycek." 

"Did your thugs take Tom too, Fossa?" 

"No, they didn't. I'm told you had something to do with that. You shot the man who had Hobbes lined up for wounding." Inga's mouth quirked. "Feeling a bit protective, were you, Krycek?" 

"Fuck you, Fossa." Alex attempted to stretch, testing his restraints. His wrists were firmly affixed to a waistband. Flexing, Krycek realized that his ankles were hobbled as well. "This is a bit much." 

"I needed to keep you quiet until you listened to me. Marita says that a Mr Smith requires that you attend on him. She insists that it's rather important." Inga bent so she was whispering into his ears. "Still... I could free you, let you go back to Hobbes. How much do you like it in here, Krycek? Would you rather stay in here and fight at Tom's side? Would you prefer to fight in a nice clean war at the side of a man you're fond of, rather than wallow around in the morass of intrigue you're forced to deal with every day?" Inga laid a cool hand on his left arm. "I could take over your obligations outside, and you can keep this arm for as long as the game runs." 

The length of the silence that followed her offer brought a smug smile to Inga's lips. 

"My obligations are MINE to handle," Alex murmured softly. 

"And one of those obligations is a year in my service, Krycek," Inga reminded him. "I did as you wished with Sophie." 

"So you say." A sigh whispered out of him. "And even if you've won... it's only a year. I've work to do outside." 

"All right." Inga stood slowly. "We've got to go back to the city. I'm going to keep you in chains for now so that if word of you gets back to Lieutenant Hobbes, he'll think that you were taken by force." 

Alex's gaze lifted to her face. "You're going to use me in here again." 

"Of course," Inga confirmed. "You hold Hobbes'... trust... right now. I never waste potential tools." 

"Tom's going to go after your ex, Fossa. Now he's open to the possibility, your precious Michael is fair game." 

"I told you, Krycek. I know Lieutenant Hobbes. He'll pine after you just like he does for his Sophie. Having you has eliminated any chance that Hobbes will ever take another male lover." She smiled. 

A sniff of a laugh escaped Alex. "You're good." 

"I know. So are you. I'm looking forward to having you in my service, Alex." 

"I'll want proof of how well you've entwined the cheerleader, Fossa," Alex reminded her. 

"And you'll have it." 

The door opened and Inga's driver presented himself. "If you're ready to go, Ma'am?" 

"Are we ready, Alex?" 

Tightening his jaw, Krycek attempted to sit up. "Yes, Ms Fossa. We're quite ready." 

* * *

Nearly breathless, Eliza leaned against the wall of the alley, trying to slow her racing heart. "Hummer. Just left," she panted out. "Alex was in a body chain. A woman took him. Civilian, in a suit." 

Prepared for it, Pinocchio managed to restrain Hobbes when the younger man tried to head for the street. "Don't even think it, Hobbes." 

"I have to get him back," Tom protested. 

"We need you here." Eliza's voice was still punctuated with rasps as she caught her breath. "Alex is gone. You can't help him now. You can help us. The guard is walking all over us. Megan needs you to come up with more plans. We need your gun. You're 'the one'. You're supposed to help us." 

"But Alex..." 

"You're here on a mission, Hobbes," Mike interrupted. "We're here to fight Santiago. This is one of the biggest battles we've been in so far. What are you gonna do, Hobbes?" 

"But Alex..." Tom tried again. 

"Alex has been alone before." Eliza straightened up, preparing to rejoin the fight. "He's always wandered back eventually. Please Tom." 

An explosion down the street filled the sky with dust. 

"Hobbes," Pinocchio carefully released his friend. "I'm going to help fight a war. You should come too." He turned to the girl poised on the edge of flight. "Eliza, take me to Megan." Mike lifted his gun in readiness to step out from cover. 

"If she's following the plan, then she should be at a bank a few streets over." Hobbes lifted his own weapon. "Go take your post, Eliza. I'll put Pinocchio to work." 

* * *

Krycek let himself into Inga's bedroom through the sliding door that let out onto the balcony. Climbing down from the roof had been a pain in the ass but there was no way he was going to let Inga know he was coming by knocking on her front door. Using a small flashlight to illuminate his way, Alex searched through her closet. 

Inga's collection of power suits were pushed to one side to allow space for a surprisingly large number of plain-lined dresses and blouses made of artificial fabrics. Amid the assortment of stiletto-heeled shoes on the floor of the closet were runners and a few pairs of flat soled, department store shoes. 

The contents of the drawers Alex went through showed the same kind of mixed results. One drawer of elegant lingerie was balanced off by another containing maternity panties, much to his disgust. The damned things were the size of sails. 

Slinking into the en-suite bathroom, Krycek found more clashes in taste and cost. The rooms certainly did give the impression of two different women living together. 

Wary of the voices he heard down the hallway, Alex tried two more doorways. The smaller of the two had to be Inga's home-office. The other room was a carefully prepared nursery. 

These signs of domestic bliss might be genuine, but Krycek was fairly certain he could crack Inga's carefully created vision with a few words. Padding toward the sound of the women, Alex edged out just enough that he could be seen if they looked in his direction. 

Sophie was cuddled up under a handmade quilt on Inga's brushed-leather couch. A steaming mug sat nearby. Chinese food cartons were scattered over the coffee table. Inga, looking more at ease than Alex had ever seen her, sat cross-legged on the floor between the sofa and the table. 

Surprisingly enough, Sophie noticed his dark profile first. The blonde let out a little gasp of distress and caught at Inga's shoulder. Her other hand lifted, finger pointing to where Alex stood. 

Genuine alarm crossed Inga's elegant features for a moment, but then she realized who was standing there, and a mask of cool amusement dropped in place. "Alex." Inga seemed to be taking a delight in using his first name since claiming she'd won their bet. "I really must insist you call first from now on, before you break in. We might have been occupied." 

"You should screen off your balcony," Krycek observed. "Something with security fibres in it that would set off an alarm if they were sliced." He eased a bit further into the light, letting Sophie get a good look at him. "About our deal, Fossa..." 

"You're not to discuss business in front of Sophie." Inga climbed to her feet, brushing at the front of her robe. "I'm sure there's nothing that can't wait until tomorrow morning, Alex. We have an appointment, after all." 

"I want to talk about Tom," he insisted, watching Sophie for her reaction. 

The woman's eyes clouded slightly, but she didn't bolt upright and demand to know if it was 'her' Tom that was being mentioned. That didn't bode well, for Alex. 

Inga, surprisingly enough, forced his hand. "Lieutenant Hobbes isn't your concern at the moment, Alex. I've a different assignment for you." 

Sophie continued to sit quietly. 

Alex's lip curled. "And do I have to have sex with this new assignment... like you asked me to do with Hobbes?" 

Finally, Sophie sat up straight. Her blue eyes swept up and down Krycek. "Inga, is this the man that Tom is sleeping with?" 

"Yes darling," Inga confirmed. "This is Alex, Tom's lover." She reached down to pet pale gold hair, while continuing to stare at Krycek. "You had something you wanted to tell him, didn't you, Sophie?" An arrogant little smirk played at the corners of her mouth. 

"Yes." Sophie offered up a nervous half-smile in Alex's direction. "Tom is really sweet man. Please don't hurt him." 

Dark brows pushing together, Krycek looked from Sophie to Inga and back again. "But he likes when I hurt him, sweetheart." The arrogance in his tone was rather brittle from being forced. 

"Oh." Sophie shook her head, and then her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh!" The second vocalization was more breath than sound. Her face tinted bright red, and Sophie pulled her cover higher. 

"That's enough, Alex." Inga paced across the room. "We can all live without the graphic details of your sex life. This can all wait until morning. I'd like you to leave now." 

"I don't believe this." Krycek pushed past Inga to cross the room and loom over Sophie. "Do you realize it's her fault that Hobbes is in the game? Do you know she sent me in there to seduce him? That I told her to seduce you? You don't mean anything to Inga. She doesn't love you." 

Sophie cringed back, trying to burrow into the sofa. "Inga... do something." 

"You're overstepping the line, Alex. You're frightening my girlfriend. It's time for you to leave." Inga caught at his arm and pulled, then quickly stepped back to be out the way when he swung around. Somewhere along the way, Alex had pulled a gun. 

"You don't own me, Fossa. No one does." 

"I know that Alex." Inga voice was cool. "The service you owe me is purely voluntary. I won't take advantage of you... much." Her arms crossed. "My office at the DOD, 9am. I want to discuss a man named Jeremiah Smith." 

"If I find out you've cheated somehow..." 

"Nine, tomorrow morning." 

Scowling, Alex swung around and headed for the front exit. Inga stood quietly until long after he'd slammed the door, arms still folded over her chest. 

"Is he gone?" Sophie struggled awkwardly to her feet. 

"Likely, but we should lock everything back up. Could you get the bedroom door, oh, and put the block in. I'll see to the front." When Inga finished with the deadbolt she went to help Sophie. The block that held the sliding door closed, sometimes gave the blonde trouble. 

"Is he really hurting Tom?" Sophie left the security measure to Inga and moved to sit on the side of the bed. "I can't believe Tom would like that sort of thing." She glanced at the doorway. "But then I can't really believe Tom would... though that man, he is handsome." 

"Alex was just teasing you." Inga locked the bar in place. "He was just trying to get you to betray yourself." She settled on the bed beside her lover. "It's very important that Alex must never, ever find out how much you still care for Tom. Alex is a incorrigible liar and a cheat... but also the perfect tool for doing so many things, and he'll only work for me as long as he thinks we're a couple. He's fixated on Tom, and he thinks they'll be together when this is all over. That's one of the main reasons he's willing to work with me." 

Sophie's head shook. "But when Tom gets home and he sees that I've been living with you... he'll think... Oh Inga. I'm so confused." 

Wrapping one arm around Sophie's shoulders, Inga pulled the other woman close. "It's all right. He can't come yet. His work isn't done. So much could change while we're waiting. You simply must stay with me in the interim. Let me take care of you. Think of the baby." Inga pressed a kiss to the side of Sophie's head, filling her lungs with the other woman's natural perfume. 

Tom was still far from his goal, and anything could happen in the meantime, including the possibility that Sophie might not want to return to her fiancé when the end finally came, which Inga wouldn't mind in the least. 

That's it. Milk and cookies time. 

* * *

That's it.   
Milk and cookies time. 

Tangle   
A Harsh Realm/X-files crossover   
By Carla Jane   
[email removed]   
Beta reading by the patron saint of Harsh Realm: Megan Reilly Intense comma wrangling and grammar lessons: Dr Ruthless   
Rating: very NC-17 This contains graphic male/male and female/female sex.   
Think before you read this and make an informed decision. You know where the delete key is.   
Pairings: Krycek/Hobbes, Inga/Sophie   
Disclaimers: Chris Carter, 1013, Fox, and the various actors, writers and producers showed most these toys to the public for three days several years ago. One character got more use, but he was treated horrendously. All of them have now been tossed aside. What a terrible pity.   
Just for fun, Alex's resistance cell is peopled with folks based on the net-personas of some HRfic friends. I'm doing it 'cause I like you, children. No offence intended. Extra kisses to Mayhem, since I couldn't use that particular net-persona here because of the physical resemblance involved.   
Summary: Krycek from the X-files does a guest performance in Harsh Realm. Inga Fossa and Alex Krycek seduce a couple of icons of decency just to prove they can. (CJ does 'Dangerous Liaisons')   
Email—yes please, [email removed]   
Other websites—[broken link removed]   
---


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